ee ee oe 


ells ye 1" 
a 


isas okt 
ES ae, 
‘ 33 








aN , MU aly s 


. ss a 


: 











J. H. Garrison at seventy-two 


MEMORTES 


AND 


m X Poe eSNG 


A BRIEF STORY OF A LONG LIFE 


AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY 


By 
J. H. GARRISON 


Editor, Minister, Author 


a 
LIBRARY OF PRINCETON 


SEP 20 


THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY 


ret 


CHRISTIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION 
ST. LOUIS 


1926 


Copyright, 1926 
Christian Board of Publication 
St. Louis, Mo. 


DEDICATION 


To my beloved wife, who for nearly three score years, 
has walked by my side, in sunshine and in shadow, 
Sharing my joys and my sorrows, making home the most delightful 
place on earth to me and without whose tender 
ministries | could never have done 
the work herein recorded 


MRS. JUDITH ELIZABETH GARRISON 


This book is affectionately dedicated 
by the author 


Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2022 with funding from 
Princeton Theological Seminary Library 


https://archive.org/details/memoriesexperienOOgarr 


} 


PROLOGUE 


Dr. James Harvey Garrison, who modestly tells 
the story of his long and useful life in this volume, 
has done his day’s work during the most exciting 
and critical era of our country and church. When 
but a youth the country’s strength was tested by 
the fury and shock of the Civil War which com- 
pletely changed the industrial system, the concep- 
tion of the Constitution, the educational ideals, the 
home life, and in fact the basis and outlook of 
civilization. He did not hesitate but went forth to 
do his share as a soldier in this crisis. After the 
war was over he gave himself to the solution of the 
problems of reconstruction in that broad, generous 
spirit which has ever characterized him in dealing 
with friend and foe. 


When he came to leadership in his church it, too, 
was in a crisis, which has not yet passed. The 
movement is so new that he commenced to work 
far enough back to be numbered with the pioneers. 
In the spiritual succession which may be easily 
traced in the history of the Disciples he comes in as 
the leader in the third epoch—the epoch of organiza- 
tion and creative interpretation. The order of the 
transmission of the prophet’s mantle was from 
Thomas to Alexander Campbell; from Alexander 
Campbell to W. K. Pendleton; from W. K. Pendle- 
ton to Isaac Errett, and from Isaac Errett to J. H. 
Garrison. 


6 PROLOGUE 


Organizational, missionary, educational, pastoral, 
and evangelistic problems came thick and fast and 
no man contributed more to their solution than he 
whose life is all too briefly told in the pages of this 
book. Having powers both analytic and synthetic to 
an unusual degree, he was able to discern the mean- 
ing of each new occasion and call, and to relate them 
to one another in a way that meant both solidity 
and growth. The prophet’s prevision often wrought 
its spell upon him and he started several creative 
movements which have been fruitful to an unusual 
degree. 


One of these was his vision of the necessity of a 
paper and publishing house in the central west. 
There is a story of heroism here, dogged determina- 
tion which makes his name worthy to be held up 
as an example of one who overcame difficulties that 
seemed insurmountable, but who reached heights 
and started influences that will never perish out of 
the earth. He drew great men about him, as this 
interesting narrative will show, but he was the brave 
spirit that bore the brunt and refused to yield, that 
went forth into storm and cold while it was yet dark, 
and it is a happy thing that today he can ‘‘come 
again rejoicing, bearing precious sheaves.’’ 


Dr. Garrison has always been characterized by 
manliness. He has met life four-square and left 
on thousands of hearts and lives an impress that will 
never fade. He has known personally many of the 
great men of the strenuous times during which he 
has lived, and always he has stood erect, equal in 
dignity, purpose, and strength to the tallest of them. 


He has a special genius for friendship and both 


PROLOGUE 7 


in and out of the church there have been scores of 
friends of the inner circle who drank delight from 
the sparkling cup of fellowship with him. 


He has lived a happy life in his work, his church, 
with his friends. His deepest earthly joy has been 
the companionship of a woman who also felt the 
beauty and greatness of living and working, and 
whose perfect unity with him has lightened his 
burdens and doubled his strength. All through this 
book one traces a sunny, optimistic philosophy of 
life like the lure of ight that filters through the rust- 
ling leaves of the forest or the burst of color and 
brightness the rainbow flings across the sky after 
the storm has passed and left everything sweet and 
fresh. He has wept with those who must weep, he 
has laughed with the glad, across the long trail of 
his eighty-five full years. The daisy in the field, the 
buttercup by the roadside, the clouds, the bird songs 
in May, the roses of June, the ice crystals and frost 
tapestries of December have often moved his facile 
pen to poetry while the majestic things have called 
forth his words in strength and greatness. We say 
there has been a philosophy under such a life—nay, 
it is something better and greater; it is the living 
Christianity which came out of his own experiences 
with God. That is the explanation of his purposes, 
his mastery, his song, and his crusade. 


And now it is getting late with him yonder by the 
Pacific sea in ‘‘the City of the Angels.’’ Sunset 
and evening star, twilight and evening bell, and the 
clear call cannot be far away. But his friends know 
that when it comes he will answer unafraid and go 
forth gladly to meet his Pilot face to face. 


8 PROLOGUE 


This and a great deal more is the meaning of his 
great life. Like Mr. Valiant-for-truth (which also 
he has been) he will soon be ‘‘ going to his Father’s; 
his sword will be to him that shall succeed him in 
his pilgrimage, and his courage and skill to him that 
ean get it’’; and his mantle will fall upon him whom 
God shall choose. 


B. A. ABBOTT. 


PREFACE 


To write even a digest of a long and busy life 
which has had to do with issues that affect in a 
vital way the welfare of one’s fellow-men is too 
prodigious a task to postpone until old age. On the 
other hand it would seem that one’s life-work must 
be well-nigh completed before it can be properly 
estimated. Hence it follows that no autobiography 
can furnish a complete life of the writer. And then 
there are things which no writer would care to say 
about himself—both good and bad—which another 
writer might feel it his duty to record. Neverthe- 
less, every man knows some things about himself— 
his motives, ideals and aspirations—which no one 
but himself does know. It is this fact, I presume, 
that justifies autobiography, however impoverished 
it may appear to the writer. 


I recently said to a company of friends, ‘‘If any 
of you wish to find out how small a place you have 
filled in the life of the world, and how inconspicuous 
has been your service to humanity, just sit down to 
write an autobiography!’’ I have found it easy 
enough to write of the earlier years of my life, but 
when it came to writing about my public life, cover- 
ing more than fifty-five years of editorial and min- 
isterial service, I realized how impossible it was to 
give anything like an adequate portrayal of this 
service to any one who has not known me through 
these years. The life of an editor is necessarily 
monotonous; not that there are no events of im- 
portance occurring all the while, but that most of 
these events, when looked at against the back: 

9 


10 PREFACE 


ground of history, seem hardly of sufficient im- 
portance to place in a book for the present and the 
future. 


The best, it seemed to me, that I could do, as to 
my public life as editor, would be to state some of 
the general principles which have controlled my 
life, some of the crises through which our religious 
movement has passed, and to illustrate my attitude 
toward these various crises in our history by 
editorials which appeared at the time. Of course, 
this feature of the work could have been greatly 
enlarged, but I have not thought it proper to make 
a large book by so doing. Of my ministerial work, 
I will attempt no record, save to say that in look- 
ing back through my diary J am surprised at the 
amount of preaching I did, on such a variety of 
occasions, such as conventions, church dedications, 
college commencements, as well as at regular services 
wherever I chanced to be. The amount of this kind 
of service, in addition to my editorial work, shows 
that it must have been reasonably acceptable. 


In glancing through my manuscript, which I have 
dictated chapter by chapter as I could find time 
and disposition, I notice there are some repetitions 
for which, perhaps, I ought to apologize; but at the 
same time, I comfort myself with the thought that 
this repetition may help to impress these facts, 
truths, or events on the minds of my readers. 


It would be ungrateful in me not to acknowl- 
edge the very generous aid I have received from 
my son, W. E. Garrison, not only in looking over 
my manuscript, but in supplying some facts which 
had escaped my attention. Having a complete file 
of the paper with which he was at one time edi- 


PREFACE A 


torially connected, and with the spirit of which he 
has always been in close sympathy, he would 
naturally be in a condition to add important details 
and incidents to the narrative. I feel that I am 
exceedingly fortunate in having so competent a 
literary critic, and one so deeply interested in the 
autobiography, to give his time and literary ability 
to supplement its many deficiencies. An autobiog- 
raphy written at the close of a long and busy life, 
which has made its contribution to such a variety 
of interests, is necessarily an imperfect transcript 
of such a life: but in bold outline it may furnish 
the chief aims and events which have marked and 
moulded it. Some of these deficiencies I have no 
doubt will be remedied by the younger hands 
through which this manuscript is to pass. 


At this writing I have just passed my eighty-third 
anniversary—an age which, even in my middle life, 
I had never expected to reach. But it has pleased 
our merciful Heavenly Father to prolong my days 
far beyond that prescribed by the psalmist as the 
norma! age of man—threescore years and ten. If I 
have been used by Him to strengthen and comfort 
my fellow-Christians, and to enlarge the kingdom 
He established among men, I am indeed most grate- 
ful for these added years. I know not how much 
longer I may be spared, but this I do know, that I 
have no desire to live beyond the period when I may 
be useful to Him and to my fellow-men. 


My hope is that these memoirs, written in the 
‘‘vale of longevity,’’ when the natural infirmities 
of age are upon me, will find the same gracious and 
charitable reception from my numerous friends as 
have my previous writings. They cover about 


12 PREFACE 


eighty years of my life, reaching back to very early 
childhood. 

Finally, I am grateful to God for having given 
me the privilege and joy of serving so long a period 
of time this blessed cause into which I have been 
called by His grace, and which I hope to serve until 
He shall call me to the life beyond. 


Js EEGs 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER I 
PAGE 
PAREN TA GB VANDAG EEE OOD tok ene ec eek se fey CAC 15 
CHAPTER II 
CIVIDRWARMIIAVOQoL owe cs tana es aioe Fibs ae 8 oe 
CHAPTER III 
COLLEGE AND MARRIAGE... LAN cya RR TOCA Sel 45 
CHAPTER IV 
BEGINNING. OF} HDITORIAL WORK a 51 
CHAPTER V 
On To Str. Lovuris—Baruy STRUGGLES__________.-____ 58 
CHAPTER VI 
ENGLAND, Boston, AND HomEe AGAIN_______.--______- 15 
CHAPTER VII 
PRMMOUESTION ONG LION ALUN en. wien kL et Ele emabegk te No) 87 
CHAPTER VIII 
‘ATU MARY! OF) PRINCIPLES. 20s eo a Es rae 92 
CHAPTER IX 
IN WRN LURES oe corel ok NERO AE OAT i Ae ie) NCE cet 99 
CHART RHR es 
EpIToR AND STOCKHOLDERS IN CONFLICT... ____ 2 105 


13 


14 CONTENTS 


CHAPTER XI 

PAGE 

CONCERNING HEDERATION 2.02 ee ee 113 
CHAPTER UX TE 

INTERNAL CONTROVERSY. 0b 2k oe 120 


CHAPTER XIII 


REORGANIZATION—CHRISTIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION___129 


CHAPTER XIV 


RETIREMENT F'Rom ACTIVE EDITORSHIP_______________ 139 


CHAPTER XV 


WoRLD’s MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH____~ Ta 


CHAPTER XVI 


IRELAND AND: OBERAMMERGAU ee eee ee eer 161 


CHAPTER XVII 


SUMMER HoMES AND VACATION TRIPS________________ 172 


CHAPTER XVIII 


SHEVENTIETH DIR TE DAY ee ey ee ee 182 


CHAPTER I 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 


No man is permitted to choose the time or place of 
his birth, nor his parentage. These are provided 
by that gracious Providence that hes behind the 
mystery of personality and of all being. To have 
been born at all, and to have a distinct personality, 
and a place, however humble, in the marvelous 
drama of human life with all its mighty hopes and 
possibilities has always seemed to me a boon for 
which I could not be sufficiently thankful. But to 
have been born of honest, healthy, godly parents 
who loved God and their neighbors, and in a land 
of freedom and opportunity, and in a country newly- 
settled where all were on a plane of equality, and 
where the necessity of labor was laid upon all, 
where no artificial distinction of classes existed, and 
in a locality abounding in natural beauty, with its 
fertile soil, its abundant timber, its clear streams, 
its springs, its caves, its wild fruits and flowers,— 
this has always made me feel that my heritage was 
great and that my lot was cast in a pleasant place. 

I was born on the second day of February in the 
year of our Lord 1842, near the village of Ozark, 
then in Greene, but now in Christian County, in the 
southwestern part of Missouri, about fourteen miles 
south of Springfield, the metropolis of that region. 
I was number twelve in a family of thirteen chil- 
dren. If the theory of small families had prevailed 
at that time I would not have been writing this auto- 
biography! There were nine boys and four girls 
in the family, and they all lived to have families of 
their own, excepting my oldest brother (Isaac) who 


15 


16 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


never married. Most of them lived to a good old 
age. My parents were James Garrison and Diana 
Kyle Garrison. They had moved to the neighbor- 
hood of ‘‘Richwoods’’ near Ozark, about ten years 
before the date of my birth. They migrated from 
Hawkins County, East Tennessee, not far from the 
Cumberland Gap—a good country to migrate from, 
judging from a single visit I made to it in 1891, 
when on my way to deliver a Baccalaureate address 
for Virginia Christian College. My grandfather, 
Isaac Garrison, who seems to have been of Scotch- 
Irish extraction, was born the same year with 
George Washington and was a soldier in the Revolu- 
tionary War. He moved from North Carolina to 
Hawkins County, in east Tennessee, in 1798, and 
purchased two hundred acres in Puncheon Camp 
Valley from John Cotterill for one hundred and 
three dollars. This record I found in Rogersville, 
county seat of Hawkins County, during the visit re- 
ferred to above. He was one hundred years old when 
my parents moved from Tennessee and insisted on 
coming with them to the new state of Missouri in 
1832. They fitted up a conveyance for him and my 
mother rode with him and drove the buggy. He 
had been a great hunter of large game in his day 
and after he reached Missouri he wished for a gun 
that he might kill some of the wild game that 
abounded in the state at that time! He lived four 
years after his migration and died at the good old 
age of one hundred and four years! 


My father, James Garrison, was his youngest son. 
He was fully six feet in height, rather slender in 
form, with a fine forehead and good native ability. 
Owing to his early environment, his education was 
limited to very rudimentary elements. He was a 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD Ly 


hard-working man, inured to labor from his early 
boyhood. He was a farmer and trained all his sons 
to work on the farm, split rails, build fences, clear 
the ground, care for stock, and do all the chores 
incident to farm life and many things not now con- 
nected with farm life. In those days we killed our 
own beeves, tanned the hides into leather, made our 
own shoes, sheared our own sheep, and the women 
of the household carded, spun and wove the wool in- 
to cloth, dyed the cloth with walnut hulls, and cut 
out and made the clothes for the family. The 
women made their own soap, conducted their own 
laundry, and wove their own carpets. We built our 
own houses, hewing the logs for the same, and 
making the boards for the roof and the planks for 
the floor. One of my boyhood memories is that of 
camping out inthe hills while we felled the great 
trees, sawed them into suitable lengths, hewed them 
for logs and rived them into boards. Life in those 
days brought us into very close contact with nature. 


I have spoken of my father as a good man, a kind 
father, a friendly neighbor. He was a faithful mem- 
ber of the Missionary Baptist Church. He had an 
older brother, William, who belonged to what was 
then called the ‘‘Predestinarian’’ or the ‘‘Two- 
seeder’’ branch of Baptists who were anti-mis- 
sionary. J can recall my father arguing with him 
on the question of ‘‘free-will,’’ and ‘‘fore-ordina- 
tion,’? when I was a very small boy. My father had 
a good voice, and sometimes entertained the family 
with the songs of his youth. He also played the 
flute, the one musical instrument we had about the 
place in those primitive days. In his later years he 
met with an accident from a ‘‘broad-ax’’ while 
hewing a log, which caused him to walk with a cane 


18 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


the remainder of his life. I remember him as the 
patient, hard-working, kind-hearted man that he 
was, too willing to believe everyone else as honest 
as himself, and not infrequently the victim of his 
good nature. He passed on to the life immortal at 
Springfield, Missouri, where the family had moved 
during the Civil War, in the autumn of 1862 in the 
seventieth year of his age. 

When I come to speak of my mother I feel that 
I must exercise great restraint lest [ seem to 
idealize her. Considering the limitations in the way 
of education and the surroundings to which she was 
subjected, I do not believe that I am extravagant 
in regarding her as one of the most remarkable 
women I have ever known. Her maiden name was 
Diana Kyle. She was the daughter of Robert Kyle 
who in his young manhood came from the north of 
Ireland to seek a home and fortune in the new world, 
in about 1800, as thousands of his countrymen have 
done before and since. In a visit to northern Ire- 
land in 1910, I found numerous Kyles still residing 
in that section of Ireland. A very prominent mem- 
ber of the Kyle family moved to Virginia before the 
War of the Revolution, as I have seen in some book 
of the early migrations to this country. Robert 
Kyle was a later arrival. He came to Botetourt 
County, Virginia, where he married Sarah Reynolds 
and then migrated to Tennessee. He was in the War 
of 1812 and came home from that war with an illness 
which caused his death. I visited his home, for it 
was the home of my mother’s girlhood, in the same 
neighborhood, in Hawkins County, in 1891. While 
there I visited my mother’s oldest brother, John 
Kyle, who was still living there in the ninetieth year 
of his age, and had a long conversation with him 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 19 


on the family history. In the valley where the 
Kyles and Garrisons lived, the people were all Bap- 
tists. Across the mountain in another valley, I was 
told they were all Methodists. On Sunday I 
preached in the Baptist Church to which all my 
relatives belonged, and I felt that I saw in the con- 
gregation, the dress, the music, the prayers and the 
preacher—as well as in the meeting-house—a per- 
petuation of what had been going on there since the 
childhood of my parents. 


The Kyles, originally from Scotland, had settled 
in northern Ireland, and from there, as stated, had 
emigrated to the new Republic of the West. My 
mother was only one remove from the native Irish 
stock. She was married to my father at the tender 
age of sixteen. She was already the mother of six 
children when they moved to southwest Missouri. 
She filled to a remarkable degree, the description of 
the ‘‘Virtuous Women”’’ of King Lemuel, Proverbs 
31:10-31. She not only managed her household 
duties in a most efficient way, but took an active 
part in planting and cultivating a garden. I was 
frequently her assistant and acted under her direc- 
tion. No boy of the present day could be prouder of 
a new suit of ready-made ‘‘store-clothes’’ than I 
was of a new suit of jeans cloth she had made 
from the wool of sheep by the process of carding, 
spinning and weaving. She was a better manager 
than my father and her energy and endurance were 
remarkable. She not only looked after her own 
household but was an angel of mercy to the whole 
neighborhood, ministering to the sick and poor and 
needy. More than once I recall coming home from 
the school and finding a lot of poor children whom 
she had brought home to feed and clothe until some 


20 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


arrangements could be made for them. Doctors de- 
ferred to her treatment and nursing of the sick. 


She was a devout Christian, actively and aggres- 
sively Christian in her faith and good works. Like 
my father she was a member of the Baptist Church, 
but did not endorse all the doctrine of the church 
at that time. She believed in open communion and 
held to a more rational view of conversion than that 
which prevailed in the Baptist Church at that time. 
She made me believe in the reality of religion be- 
cause she lived it as well as professed it. She passed 
into the other life about two weeks before my 
father’s death, in Springfield, Missouri, in the 
autumn of 1862. She was not much more than sixty 
years of age at the time of her departure. The Civil 
War, then in progress, with four of her sons in the 
Union army, and with many relatives on opposite 
sides, was a great sorrow to my parents and no doubt 
shortened their lives. They had moved from their 
country home, near Billings, to Springfield, Missouri, 
to avoid ‘‘bushwhackers’ ’’ raids, and so were there 
at the time of their decease. 

My memory does not reach back to the time when 
we lived in the Richwoods place where I was born. 
Several years later when my mother and I were 
driving by the place she pointed to a rude log cabin 
still standing by the road, and said, ‘‘ Harvey, there 
is the cabin in which you were born!’” It was a 
mile northwest of the village of Ozark and over- 
looking that town. I did not have the foresight to 
have the cabin photographed at that time or later 
and hence I am unable to present a picture of it 
here! It was not very different, however, from the 
thousands of such log cabins built by the early 
settlers of the great West as their first habitations. 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 21 


When I was three or four years old the family 
moved from the Richwoods place to a new location 
about one mile east of Ozark—a village picturesquely 
located on the bluff south of Finley Creek. This new 
home was also hewn out of the primeval woods. I 
ean recall the rude log cabin which formed our first 
habitation there. It was replaced in due time by a 
large two-story hewed-log house, quite a building 
for the time. It stood not more than two hundred 
yards from the precipitous lime-stone cliff of some 
fifty to one hundred feet in height which formed 
the head of one of the deep hollows that ran down 
through the village of Ozark to Finley Creek. At 
the bottom of this semicircular bluff or precipice 
were a number of caves of extraordinary extent 
which made a deep impression on my youthful 
imagination. At the northern extreme of this series 
of caves, where the descent was more gradual, was 
the ‘‘cave spring.’’ It was a circular cave in the 
solid rock about six feet high and six feet wide and 
of unknown length, out of which ran a stream of 
clear, cold water at all seasons. On the stone floor 
of this cave a basin had been dug out with stone 
implements by primitive inhabitants. This basin 
was deep enough to permit the dipping of a bucket 
of water from it. A wooden door was made to fit 
the entrance of the cave and it formed an ideal 
place for keeping the milk, butter and cream. Often 
in my boyhood days do I recall being sent to the 
‘‘cave spring’’ for a bucket of water, or for a pitcher 
of milk or cream. In the center of this overarching 
precipice, south of the ‘‘cave spring’’ was the ‘‘Big 
eave.’’ Into it a wagon drawn by horses could have 
been driven, while the front flared out so widely that 
it afforded a splendid refuge from the storms of 


pre MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


winter for the sheep and cattle. With pine torches 
we used to explore this great cavern for a long dis- 
tance back, but no end to it was ever discovered. 
There were great stalactites and stalagmites, and 
lakes which seemed to be bottomless. One of our 
amusements was throwing great stones into the 
largest of these sunless pools of water and listening 
to the gurgling noise which seemed never to end but 
only to grow fainter and then die away. At the 
mouth of the cave was a solid deposit of ashes which 
might well have been the accumulation of genera- 
tions of the red men who had lived and loved and 
sung their war-songs here long before the white 
man had invaded this region. Still farther to the 
south was a small cave known as the ‘‘cold cave’’ 
because from its mouth a cool breeze issued, and 
fresh meats could be kept fresh in there for some 
time. 

In connection with this cave there was an incident 
that deeply impressed my boyish imagination. 
One day a mysterious old man came to our house 
carrying a long narrow bottle filled with some heavy 
substance. It was suspended from a string, one end 
of which was fastened about the old man’s wrist. 
He claimed that this bottle was guiding him to a 
hidden treasure. He asked permission to follow the 
leading of this bottle over our premises. Permission 
being granted, he followed it down one of the wind- 
ing paths leading to the base of the cliff formation 
where these several caves debouched into the open. 
Just below the little ‘‘cold cave’’ where a stream 
of water flowed at certain seasons, the mysterious 
stranger discovered the location of the treasure con- 
sisting of three pots of gold. It is characteristic of 
the credulity of the people of the region at that time 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 23 


that several of the neighbors believed the report of 
the magician enough to go to work. The mysterious 
character of those caves, with evidence of previous 
habitation, and the weird personality of the old man, 
combined to make his story seem more credible. I 
do not know how much labor was spent digging 
in that cavern, but I do know that the treasure was 
never found. 


My early boyhood was spent working on the farm 
in spring and summer, and going to school in the 
village in the fall and winter. I made rapid 
progress at school after I had conquered the diffi- 
culty of the ‘‘A, b, ab’s.’’ After one day in that 
department I went home thoroughly discouraged 
and told my mother that I could not learn them and 
there was ‘‘no use to skip them and I might as well 
quit the school!’’ But I was persuaded to continue 
at the school and later found the cause of my con- 
fusion. If the teacher had told me that a-b was pro- 
nounced abe and so on, I would have understood. 
The different vowel sounds had not yet been taught, 
and the process was wholly irrational and, of course, 
has long since been abandoned. I learned to read 
quite fluently at a very early age, and was the best 
speller in the school. I had only one competitor in 
that line in the school and in ‘‘spelling matches’’ he 
and I always had to ‘‘choose up”’ or to be on opposite 
sides. One of the proudest incidents connected with 
my school life in those early days was one of those 
spelling matches at the close of a term of school. The 
school had been divided into two parts as usual by 
the process of ‘‘choosing up’’ by my rival and myself, 
each choosing alternately. The contest was very 
warm and the interest ran high. Finally all the 
school was spelled down but my rival and myself. 


24 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


The teacher exhausted all the hard words in our 
spelling book and still we held our ground, neither of 
us missing a word. Determined to close the contest, 
he closed the spelling book and resorted to a diction- 
ary. But even then we held our ground some time 
while he picked out hard words. Excitement was 
high. Finally, however, my opponent misspelled a 
word and without waiting for the teacher to give it 
to me I took it and spelled it correctly, thus ending 
the contest with the victory on our side. One fact 
that added to my gratification for this victory, was 
the presence of my father whom I had persuaded to 
come down and see and hear that spelling match 
that I felt confident of winning, and he shared my 
confidence. I was glad not to disappoint him. I had 
no books except McGuffey’s series of Readers and 
the Bible. 


In 1852, when I was ten years old, three of my 
brothers joined one of the caravans going to the 
California gold diggings. It was the plan that they 
were to dig enough gold in a year to meet all our 
needs and then to join the remainder of the family 
in Willamette Valley, Oregon, where we were to 
move the following spring and summer. That 
winter was full of romance for us boys as we talked 
of the ponies we would ride and the Indians and 
buffalo we would encounter along the way, greatly 
to their discomfort. But it was one of those dreams 
that never come true. The caravan in which my 
brothers were, had a rough time of it with cholera 
and the hardships of the journey. My brothers 
reached California, though many died by the way. 
They wrote back home that if we had sold the old 
home we had better buy another and be contented 
to remain in old Missouri, that the hardships of the 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD a 


journey across the plains would be altogether too 
great for the family to risk. So faded one of the 
romances of my boyhood. Otherwise I might have 
been one of the early settlers of California. 


We had sold our old place and so had to buy 
another. This was located about twenty miles 
southwest of Ozark—a wild and unsettled region 
which formed a sort of leg of Christian County. 
On what was known at that time as ‘‘the state road’’ 
leading from Springfield south into Arkansas, and 
about nineteen or twenty miles south of Springfield, 
there was a new place partially opened and culti- 
vated with a big log house facing the state road, a 
never-failing spring near by, and a clear stream of 
water flowing through the pasture at the back of the 
house. (It was in one of the pools formed by this 
stream that I was baptized when a boy of about 14, 
or 15 years of age.) This place on the state road we 
purchased and moved into in the spring of 1853. 
This, while not so romantic a trip as across the 
plains, seemed quite an adventure to my boyish im- 
agination. We made the journey in a day with 
our flocks and herds, arriving at our new home at 
about nightfall. I remember that one ewe grew 
faint and weary, and was about to give out, when 
my mother gave it an apple to eat which so re- 
freshed it that it was able to complete the journey. 

Here we began life anew. The country was open 
and was called ‘‘The Barrens,’’ but a young growth 
of trees was coming on and the soil was good in 
spite of numerous rocks that infested the ground. 
There were no neighbors for miles, but wagons that 
came down the state road on the way to Texas and 
camped at our spring kept us in touch with the out- 
side world. Some of the wagon covers were marked 


26 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


in crude letters—‘‘Texas or Bust!’’ Some of these 
immigrants returned the next season ‘‘busted,”’ 
making their way back whence they came; but 
doubtless the greater number remained and were 
among the oldest inhabitants of that great state. 
I used to sit by their camp fires at night and hear 
them play on the fiddle such classic pieces as ‘‘Old 
Dan Tucker’’ and similar melodies. 

But this was not the only excitement in our new 
home. The country abounded in wild game such 
as deer, wild turkeys, prairie chickens and quail, 
not to mention squirrels and rabbits. There was 
plenty of work to do which required old and young. 
New ground had to be fenced, broken up and 
grubbed, and put into cultivation. A new frame 
house, stables and barns were erected. 


Schoolhouses? There were none within reach, 
nor were there any church buildings at that time, 
though an occasional itinerant minister passing 
through preached in some of the neighboring houses. 
Meanwhile I was hungering and thirsting for know]- 
edge and insisted on going to school somewhere. 
Finally one of my brothers took me back to the 
village of Ozark, to put me in a school there. The 
only school running there at the time was a girls’ 
school, and the lady teacher, with a little persuasion, 
agreed to take me in, though she should have known 
better. Imagine a country boy thirteen or fourteen 
years old, trying to study in a school of young girls! 
Nothing but my desire to learn induced me to under- 
take the work, but it only took a day or two to con- 
vince me and the teacher that it was an impossible 
situation, so I unceremoniously left the school and 
went back to the farm-—to the hoe, the axe, the 
plow, the iron wedge, the maul, the rail-splitting, 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD pay 


the wood-chopping and the usual duties of a farmer 
boy. There is probably no better place for a boy to 
be brought up than on the farm. He is not only free 
from the temptations of the city and the town but he 
learns to do many kinds of work and to sympathize 
with those who labor with their hands for their own 
and the world’s living. This farm on the state road 
had become a real home to us. We had dug out the 
spring so as to give it a larger capacity and later 
it became known as the ‘‘Dug Spring Place’’ and 
a battle fought near there during the Civil War was 
known as the ‘‘Dug Spring Battle.’’ 

But later on, the ‘‘Dug Spring’’ place had to be 
sold to pay a debt which my father had contracted 
by too trustingly endorsing a note for a friend, and 
we had to make a new beginning in life from the 
ground up. About two miles west of the ‘‘Dug 
Spring’’ place was a level piece of ground covered 
with young oak, which we took possession of and on 
which we erected first a temporary shelter of mere 
poles, and later a small log house. We had to clear, 
fence, and break ground for another farm, on a 
smaller scale. This place was also near a flowing 
spring. The water had to be carried some distance. 

J had been trained from my early boyhood as a 
Baptist and was converted and baptized at the 
tender age of about fourteen. It was at that period 
of my youth that I went through the experience, 
which my religious teachers recognized as conver- 
sion, at a Methodist Camp Meeting held out in the 
woods a few miles from our home. I was baptized, 
however, by a Baptist minister,—my cousin, 
Ephraim Wray,—and was later received into the old 
‘*Prospect’’ Baptist Church, meeting in the school- 
house near us. Thus, it will be seen that I have 


28 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


reason to be grateful to, and appreciative of, both 
the Methodists and the Baptists. There were doubt- 
less some features connected with this Methodist 
revival in their camp meeting that would not be 
considered in good taste now, but it was the earnest 
preaching of the Gospel by them that made me 
realize my need of salvation and that Jesus Christ 
was my Savior. The Methodists have done a great 
work in the world, by their faith and zeal, and are 
entitled to the respect and good-will of all Christian 
people. As to the Baptists, I have never ceased to 
have the highest regard for them, as a religious 
body. As I have already stated, my father and 
mother were devoted members of this body and it 
was their influence upon my early life that made 
me decide to be a Christian. 


I can never forget that when but a boy of five or 
six years of age, my mother, putting her hand 
lovingly on my head, would say to the neighbors 
and friends, ‘‘This is my preacher boy!’’ I have 
never ceased to feel the pressure of that hand on 
my head and to hear her gentle tones expressing her 
wish as to my future calling. That was my real 
ordination. But what there was in me to prophesy 
this future calling, I can not imagine. A mother’s 
eyes can see deeper into the heart of her child than 
those of any other. True, I remember that in those 
early childhood days I used to get on a stump for 
a pulpit and, holding a piece of paper in my hand, 
which I called my ‘‘preachin’ fixin’s,’’ I went 
through the form of preaching; but I suspect that 
it was not so much that, as it was just the mother- 
love and prayer expressing its hope in her announce- 
ment of me as her ‘‘preacher-boy.’’ 


PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 29 


Not very long after we moved from the ‘‘Dug 
Spring’’ place, there came along a young man from 
the East not much, if at all, more than twenty years 
of age, in search of a job teaching school. He was 
a Yankee from the hills of New Hampshire, and 
proved an angel in disguise. Quite a number of 
settlers had moved into the neighborhood and a 
school was much needed for the growing boys and 
girls. He went among the people and stirred up 
such an interest in the school that he was not only 
employed to teach, but to superintend the construc- 
tion of an adequate school building. The old build- 
ing was not much larger than an ordinary garage 
of today. Its only window was a log left out on the 
north side. So the neighbors rallied, took their 
wagons and teams and axes, and went into the tall 
timber, made a sort of a picnic of it, felled the trees, 
cut them into suitable lengths, hewed them and 
hauled them to the site selected, which was where 
the original house stood, and only a few hundred 
yards from our new home. When the material was 
on the ground there was a ‘‘house-raising,’’? when 
the walls were erected. The neighbors all helped 
in covering and flooring the building. And what 
a big house it was! And a stage was built across 
one end and a large blackboard was placed across 
the end above the stage, and there were glass win- 
dows! This young Yankee school-teacher had given 
those western settlers a new idea of the value and 
dignity of school-teaching. 


This work was done in the summer, and in the 
autumn the new school opened with a new building, 
a new teacher, new methods, and a new enthusiasm 
for education. This Yankee school-teacher’s name 
was Charles P. Hall, a name I shall always hold in 


30 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


highest esteem. He did much for the neighborhood 
and the surrounding country. He did much for me. 
He named the school the ‘‘Westmoreland’’ after 
some eastern school he had attended. It acquired 
considerable fame in all the region round about. The 
new songs he introduced, the exhibitions in which 
dramas were presented on that stage, and the speak- 
ing of ‘‘pieces,’’ especially the great patriotic 
speeches of Daniel Webster and Patrick Henry, and 
so on, both astonished and gratified the natives. I 
do not recall the number of terms he taught, but I 
know it was with great regret on our part when he 
left us to become the head of the Academy at Ozark. 
It must have been in the years 1857 and 1858 that 
Mr. Hall taught at our ‘‘ Westmoreland”’ school. He 
had not taught more than one session at Ozark till 
some of the boys who were his pupils at ‘‘ Westmore- 
land’’ followed him. But during that year another 
Yankee teacher came, a friend of Mr. Hall, whose 
name was Upton. 


Meantime I had taught three months in a public 
school in an adjoining neighborhood—a country 
school of the most primitive type. I could not have 
been more than seventeen years of age at this time. 
Needless to say there were no examination boards 
to pass on the qualifications of teachers at that time. 
And yet, I have no doubt that I was able to awaken 
some of the same enthusiasm among the students 
and patrons of that school that my Yankee teacher 
had inspired at ‘‘ Westmoreland.”’ 

Mr. Upton was an excellent teacher, too, and a 
man of fine character whose personal influence 
among the students was very fine. He followed Mr. 
Hall very well. One day at the noon hour he asked 
me to take a walk with him through the woods, and 





J. H. Garrison at seventeen 





PARENTAGE AND CHILDHOOD 31 


I soon understood that he wished to have a con- 
fidential talk with me about something he believed 
to be for my good. I would not give the gist of his 
talk to me on that walk if I did not believe it to be 
admirable advice for all boys who are, or may be, 
similarly situated. After asking me a few questions 
about my future plans, and learning that I was not 
intending to stop my education with such schooling 
as I could obtain in the neighborhood, he expressed 
his pleasure at that and added, rather hesitatingly: 
‘‘In that case, Harvey, I feel that, as one who is a 
few years older than you, I may give you a bit of 
advice. J would not be in a hurry in tying myself 
up with any girl. M. is a sweet, pretty girl, but that 
she will ever develop into a woman that would be 
a suitable wife for a man holding the position in 
hfe that you will be likely to hold, is extremely 
improbable and you would embarrass both yourself 
and her. There is plenty of time for that when you 
know something more of what your life is to be.’’ 
No man could have said it in a kinder way and yet, 
it touched some tender chords, for I had come to 
think M. a charming girl. And she was, for she had 
charmed my boyish heart. And yet, my reason told 
me that my teacher had given me wise advice and 
I have thanked him many times for doing it. Great 
events were just ahead and they helped to solve 
the problem. 


CHAPTER II 


Crvi. War Days 


In the winter of 1860 and 1861, I went with a few 
others of our neighbor boys to Ozark, near our old 
home, to attend Professor Hall’s academy. It was 
during the latter part of this term in the spring of 
1861, that things became exciting. Lincoln had been 
elected President of the United States the autumn 
before. The Baltimore Mob and the firing upon Fort 
Sumpter occurred in the spring of 1861. It was a 
little later that some of this excitement was trans- 
ferred to the little county seat of Ozark. A firm 
which had previously contracted to build the Court 
House, had completed it and had announced that on 
a given Saturday, before they had turned it over to 
the county, they were going to raise the Confederate 
flag on the top of it. This created great excitement 
in all the region around, where the hillmen were 
loyal to the old flag, as a rule, while the town people 
were generally Southern sympathizers. 

The day arrived and the town was full of people, 
nearly all of whom were armed with rifles, shot- 
guns or pistols. As the moment approached, the 
excitement was intense, when Mr. H., one of the 
building firm—a desperate man—appeared on the 
top of the building with the Confederate flag in his 
hand. I had placed myself close beside a neighbor, 
Mr. N., another daring man, a Union man, who was 
prepared to shoot Mr. H. as soon as he appeared. 
My purpose was to get all the shooting postponed 
so we could reason together a little, as the war had 
not yet begun in Missouri. I pulled down Mr. N.’s 
gun and urged that, instead of shooting we put up 

32 


CIVIL WAR DAYS 33 


a Union flag and defend it if attacked. In a little 
while the pole was erected beside the Court House 
and the Stars and Stripes floating from its summit. 
A goods box was rolled under it and our representa- 
tive in the Legislature, a Mr. L., mounted it, as we 
all supposed, to deliver an address. Instead of doing 
so, he announced that there was a young man in 
town attending the Academy who would now address 
them! To my astonishment he called my name. 


There was no time for excusing myself, for some- 
thing had to be done right soon by somebody to 
prevent a fight right there among neighbors. Ardent 
Unionist that I was, I knew the only hope of avoiding 
a conflict then and there, which could mean nothing 
in any decisive sense, was a note of moderation. 
That I struck at once, reminding the crowd that had 
gathered about the flag pole that we were all neigh- 
bors, citizens under one flag; that it had not yet 
come to war in Missouri, and that it might not come 
to war with us; that if it should come to war then 
we would have to choose our sides as soldiers and 
fight accordingly. But today we were citizens, not 
soldiers, and that killing would not be legitimate 
war, but murder. I told them frankly where I stood 
in case of war, and why, but today I begged them to 
keep the peace. Pointing to the flag under which 
I stood I said, ‘‘My friends, that old flag with its 
stars and stripes is the same banner which Wash- 
ington and his ragged soldiers followed with bleed- 
ing feet at Valley Forge, and carried to victory, and 
if it comes to war that is the flag I shall follow in 
order to preserve the Union. Some of you will 
choose the other side, no doubt, but today let us 
separate quietly as friends and think it over till that 
time comes.’’ As I spoke I could see them relax 


34 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


and their expression change and to my great 
gratification they separated without a shot being 
fired. That I count one of the greatest victories of 
my life. Their desire to wait till the war came was 
gratified. They had not long to wait. 

Yes, it came with all its bitterness, its ferocity, 
its fatalities, and we can see now, as we look back 
upon it, how unnecessary it was, had reason con- 
trolled the two sections. If only a conference of 
representatives from each section had been called 
before the firing on Sumpter, and even much earlier, 
before the strong sectional feeling had been stirred 
up, to consider by what means the question of 
slavery could be adjusted and the Union preserved 
without war, how different might have been the re- 
sult! Perhaps such an amicable adjustment would 
have been impossible for lack of men of vision on 
each side who could see far off and who loved the 
Union and its mission in the world far more than 
any political theory or sectional interest. But the 
effort would have been a worthy one. The questions 
which constituted the chief differences between the 
two sections were: first, the right of one class of peo- 
ple to hold another class of inferiors in bondage, or 
human slavery; and the right of any state or group 
of states to withdraw or secede from the Federal 
Union. The Southern states, with perhaps more 
reason than we can realize at this time, claimed both 
these rights, while they were denied by the people 
of the North, or who were on the Union side. For 
not all in the North were of this conviction, nor were 
all in the South in favor of disunion, but the greater 
mass of people north of the Mason and Dixon line 
insisted that the Union of states, in the language 
of Daniel Webster, was ‘‘one and indivisible.’’ It 


CIVIL WAR DAYS 35 


was the actual secession of some of the Southern 
states after the election of Lincoln in 1860 that 
precipitated the actual beginning of the unfortunate 
war between fellow-citizens of the same blood and 
nationality, and under the same flag. 

Our Yankee school teacher, Mr. Hall, found it ad- 
visable to close his school about the time of the 
incident mentioned above, and to return East where 
he subsequently raised a company of cavalry and 
fought in the Union army. Believing it would be 
some time before Missouri became involved in the 
war, I desired to get up a subscription school in the 
neighborhood of Judge Chapman who lived to the 
northeast of Ozark on the road to Springfield. Judge 
Chapman was an old friend of the family and went 
around with me to get subscriptions. In a few days, 
with his aid, I secured a sufficient number of stu- 
dents to justify me in beginning the school, and so 
I opened it and had run it about one week when 
one morning the news was very exciting, reporting 
a large Confederate army moving on Springfield. 
After thinking it over a while, I told the students 
that they could lay aside their books. I then told 
them it was no time to teach school; that there was 
too much excitement; and that they might go home 
and tell their parents that the school had ended and 
that there would be no charge for the week’s tuition. 
That same day I packed my belongings and walked 
to Springfield where I found a field full of Home 
Guards drilling on the old Phelps place south of 
town. I had soon joined them and with the others 
was shouting, ‘‘Hurrah for the Union!”’ 

As there seemed to be no danger of immediate 
attack on Springfield, I returned with a few of our 
neighbors to our home near the old ‘‘ Westmoreland’”’ 


36 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


schoolhouse. It was wheat harvest time and we 
deemed it wise to look after that before the Southern 
troops arrived. I remember we were finishing up a 
piece of this work on the Fourth of July (1861) and 
at noon, when we stopped for our lunch in the 
harvest field, we heard the distant booming of cannon 
and knew the Confederate forces were advancing. 
The cannonading was at Carthage, Missouri, and its 
distant booming foreboded the storm that was just 
beginning to break upon the country. In a little 
Fourth of July speech which I made to my fellow- 
harvesters, I told them what it meant for me and 
that I did not intend to allow this army to get north 
of me but that I should follow the Union forces until 
they were strong enough to resist. 

The next morning I talked the matter over with 
my parents and told them my proposition which was 
to enter the Union army as soon as I could join it. 
They reminded me of the dangers of war, of course, 
and the hope which they had in me. I told them, 
however, that my life would be safer in the Union 
army than it would be for me to remain at home 
with the Confederates in possession of the country, 
in view of the part I had already taken in behalf 
of the Union. As I remember, it was the same day 
that I left for Springfield with some of the neighbor 
boys and went into Home Guard duty in the little 
fort we had thrown up south of town. 


There was a strong Union element in Springfield, 
and in the southwest, but the Secessionists, in the 
state as a whole predominated. General Lyon, in 
command of the small Union army that had been 
sent to Springfield was inclined, I am told, to wait 
until he could meet with the other Union forces, but 
the men of Springfield and thereabouts, who had 


CIVIL WAR DAYS By! 


come out on the Union side, urged him not to fall 
back. He knew he was outnumbered but resolved 
to make a night march south and meet the enemy 
at Wilson’s Creek about ten miles from Springfield. 
General Sigel, who held a subordinate command, was 
with him. It is not our purpose to report that battle 
here further than to say that General Lyon was 
killed leading a charge and that General Sigel was 
compelled to retreat from Springfield to Rolla, which 
was the terminus of the railroad at that time, and 
on to St. Louis. 

When news of the battle reached Springfield, 
August 10, with the word that General Lyon had 
been killed, a serious question was forced upon us 
Home Guards who lived south of Springfield. Should 
we attempt to get back to our homes before going 
east or should we leave our homes with no change 
of clothes, and no money, and take our chances on 
being received into the army. Some of us, and I 
among them, decided to fall back with the army. 
This we did, getting such scraps from the army 
wagons as we could until we reached Rolla, the 
terminus of the San Francisco Railroad, where we 
could get supplies. There we went into encamp- 
ment for a short time. While there, I applied for 
enlistment in Co. F, 24th Missouri Infantry, S. 
H. Boyd, Colonel, and 8S. P. Barris, Captain. I was 
accepted and immediately put on guard duty and 
other forms of camp duty. In a few days, I was 
appointed a Sergeant of the company. I began at 
once to study military tactics. But we drew no army 
uniforms until after we had reached St. Louis. In 
marching through the streets of St. Louis in our 
‘*butternut’’ and tattered suits, we presented quite a 
spectacle to the citizens. But as we marched under 
the Stars and Stripes it was easy to tell the Union 


38 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


men from the others by the reception we received 
from the two classes along the line of march out to 
Benton Barracks on Grand Avenue. If we were a 
sight to the people of the city, no less was the city a 
sight to us boys from the Ozarks. The railroad at 
Rolla was the first we had seen of that modern in- 
vention. Our ride from Rolla to St. Louis on a 
gravel train with rough boards laid across for seats, 
was one of the most luxurious rides we had ever had, 
and certainly the fastest. 

Not long after going into camp at Benton 
Barracks, we received our army uniforms and began 
to realize the dignity of our soldierhood. Soon I 
had gained such knowledge of the drill that I was 
charged first with the drilling of the awkward squad 
and later with drilling the company. Our regiment 
spent the autumn of 1861 at this place. While at 
this camp I had a hard spell of sickness which nearly 
carried me away,—a result of long months of ex- 
posure as home guard,—at Springfield and on the 
march to Rolla. 

I imagine that the readers of my life will not be 
greatly interested in my connection with the civil 
war, and I would gladly skip it all if it were not 
for the fact that it connects in a very marked way | 
with my subsequent career. Let it suffice here to 
say that the army of the Southwest, of which my 
regiment was a part was sent south from Springfield, 
under command of General Curtis and General Sigel, 
in pursuit of the Confederate army. On the morning 
of March 6, 1862, the Union forces came into con- 
tact with the Confederate troops at Pea Ridge, 
Arkansas. In that conflict I was wounded, about 
sundown of that day. I was within gunshot of the 
old Pea Ridge Tavern, when the ball struck me, 


CIVIL WAR DAYS 39 


entering my left leg just above the ankle, shattering 
the bone and passing through, turning slightly to the 
rear and just missing the main leader in the back of 
my leg. I fell, but rose quickly, carrying my gun, 
and continued my retreat, for our army had fallen 
back a mile and was forming a new line. Our Con- 
federate friends called on me to surrender, but I 
decided to take my chances of joinng my army 
which I saw forming its line at the edge of the 
woods. 

When I was about fainting from loss of blood, 
an ambulance of our army passed near me and I 
threw myself in at the rear end and was carried to a 
hospital tent at the rear of the battlefield, which 
proved to be that of the 22nd Indiana. There I lay 
all night. The surgeon told me that there were too 
many others worse wounded than I for him to dress 
my wound that night. My own company and 
regimental surgeon did not know where I was. So 
T lay all night on the battle-field with my wound 
undressed. The next morning I saw a member of 
my company passing by the tent, and I called him, 
and he notified my company officers, and I was soon 
removed to our own regimental hospital where my 
wound was dressed. But the battle did not end on 
the sixth. On the morning of the seventh I heard 
tremendous cannonading to the north of us, accom- 
panied by infantry fire. Early in the forenoon a 
messenger reached us bearing the glad news that the 
Union forces had won the victory and that the 
Southern army was in full retreat. A feeble shout 
went up from the hospital patients. This battle was 
very fatal to Confederate Generals, Generals Price, 
McCollough and MacIntosh falling in that engage- 
ment. 


40 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


In a few days our regimental surgeon, Dr. Robin- 
son, notified me that he was going to send some of 
the slightly wounded men to Springfield in some 
army wagons that were returning for provisions and 
that while my wound was a little more severe than 
the class which he was sending he would allow me 
to return if I thought I could stand the trip, as he 
knew my folks were living in Springfield at that 
time. I readily decided to go, and the next day, 
lying on my back on my blankets, on the bed of an 
army wagon, we were bumping along over the stony 
road from Pea Ridge, Arkansas, to Springfield, Mis- 
souri, something over a hundred miles. On arriving 
in Springfield the post surgeon allowed me to go 
home on the condition that I was to consider myself 
under his care. My parents, and the others of the 
family, received me gladly and my mother felt 
rather relieved when she saw me carried home only 
wounded, as she had a presentiment that I would 
be either killed or wounded in that battle. Under 
her tender care, and that of the surgeon, I was, 
in a few weeks, able to get around on crutches. In 
a little while I was detailed as chief clerk in the 
Provost-Marshall’s office in Springfield. 

After two or three months in this position, in 
which I had a good deal to do with the granting 
of passes to those wishing to leave the city, it was 
decided to raise a regiment of United States Cavalry 
for the war. I undertook to raise a company, and 
by visiting a few of the surrounding towns and 
making patriotic speeches I succeeded in doing so 
and was elected Captain of the same. I was then 
discharged from Co. F, 24th Missouri Infantry, 
where I had the rank of Orderly or First Sergeant, 
and was commissioned as Captain of Co. G, of 


CIVIL WAR DAYS 41 


the 8th Mo. Cav. Vols., September 1, 1862. My 
brother William, who had not entered the army till 
now, was soon made Lieutenant of the company. W. 
F. Geiger was appointed Colonel of the regiment. 

After a little drilling at Springfield, we were 
ordered on a scout to the southwest, to be gone about 
two weeks. My mother was ill at the time, and our 
line of march led us along the street where my 
parents lived. While my company marched on with 
the regiment, I alighted and went in to tell my 
mother ‘‘good-bye.’’ I told her how sorry I was 
to leave her ill, but she said she knew I was a soldier 
now and must go with my command. She expressed 
some doubt about my ever seeing her again. That 
grieved me most of all. As I rode on I was in no 
hurry to join my company, so sad were my feelings. 
Her premonition proved to be true. I never saw her 
again. As soon as our company returned to Spring- 
field, I went immediately to the residence where my 
parents lived and found that my mother had died 
in my absence and had been buried near the old 
‘‘*Westmoreland’’ school house down in Christian 
County. Her intensity of life in caring for her own 
large family and others, together with the anxieties 
of the war, no doubt, shortened her life. A nobler 
specimen of humanity I have never known. To her 
I feel especially indebted for whatever good I may 
have done in the world. | 

But not only did I find that my mother had passed 
away, but that my father was at the point of death. 
I approached the bed softly where he lay and stoop- 
ing asked, ‘‘Father, do you know me?’’ In feeble 
tones he replied, ‘‘ Your voice sounds familiar, but 
I cannot see you!’” The film of death was already 
over his eyes. And that night he too passed away. 


492 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


I do not think he cared to ive when his companion 
had passed on to the other world. He was known 
to his neighbors as the honest, kind-hearted ‘‘Uncle 
Jim.’’ As previously stated, both my father and 
mother were devoted members of the Baptist 
Church. While they were denied the benefits of 
much schooling, they were anxious that their chil- 
dren should have all they could get. They were to- 
gether in life and not separated in their death. 
Peace to their memory! 

I shall not attempt to report in detail the three 
years of cavalry service following my promotion to 
the rank of Captain. It would be impossible for me 
to do this without going over the war records again, 
which I think is not necessary. The regiment and 
division to which my company belonged served in 
the state of Arkansas after we left Missouri. Work- 
ing our way south by scouts, skirmish and battle, 
we captured the city of Little Rock, the capital of 
the state. This we made our headquarters and 
center of operations. Some of the most adventurous 
expeditions I was in, or led, occurred during our 
encampment in Little Rock and that vicinity. Pass- 
ing by these, we remained thereabouts until peace 
was declared. 

Our division of the army was then sent south to 
Camden, in the southern part of Arkansas, to re- 
ceive the surrender of the Confederate troops in that 
part of the state. The war was ended! The Union 
preserved! How these facts thrilled our hearts! 
While we were encamped in Camden and engaged 
in receiving the surrender of the Confederate troops, 
the Fourth of July, 1865, came on. Of course we must 
have a celebration, for the day would have a new 





J. H. Garrison at twenty-three 





CIVIL WAR DAYS 43 


and richer meaning now. Such a celebration was 
announced by the Union General in command, who, 
to my great surprise, appointed me to deliver the 
address on the oceasion. I felt the responsibility of 
the peculiar situation in which I was to speak to 
both Federal and Confederate troops. Many of 
those in Gray would be wondering what the attitude 
of the government would be towards them and ex- 
pect the speaker on the occasion to indicate what 
that attitude would be. While holding no authority 
from the President or from the Commander-in-chief 
of the army, to announce the terms of peace, I did 
feel confident in assuring our friends from the South, 
who had erstwhile been our enemies, that having laid 
down their arms against the government, they had 
become citizens once more of the Union, loyal to its 
flag and Constitution and that they would not only 
receive pardon, but a hearty welcome from the gov- 
ernment and from the boys in blue; that we had 
not fought them because we hated them, but because 
we loved the Union with its starry flag, not one of 
whose stars did we wish to see erased; that we were 
now fellow-citizens of the same great Republic, the 
finest and noblest on earth, and that we must stand 
behind it as Americans in defense of a common coun- 
try and a common flag. I told them, also, that we 
who had fought for the Union could give full credit 
to the men of the South for their courage and loyalty 
to their convictions. I was a great admirer of Presi- 
dent Lincoln, and tried to reflect his kindly spirit 
in my address. 

These sentiments seemed to meet with a hearty 
response both from the boys in Blue and those in 
Gray. This address, with some patriotic songs made 
a very interesting occasion. The Union General in- 


44 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


vited me to dine with him in his tent, which I did, 
and he freely expressed his approval of the senti- 
ments and the spirit of my address. Why he should 
have laid such a responsibility on a boy of twenty- 
three when there were men of greater ability, and 
rank in our army, I have ventured to account for 
on the ground that these older and wiser men feared 
to risk their reputations in speaking under such 
peculiar conditions. But I had no reputation to 
guard and was not afraid to express my sentiments. 
At any rate the occasion passed off pleasantly and 
the behavior of the Union soldiers towards the Con- 
federates was very commendable, as was that of the 
Confederates toward the Union soldiers. It was not 
many days after these ceremonies were completed 
that the Union soldiers began their march northward 
where they were to be discharged and to enter into 
the ranks of civil life. 


Some time before this, and dating from March 
first, I had received from the Governor of Missouri, 
a commission as Major in the United States army, 
into which position I was never mustered, as the war 
was closing. I have the commission, however, hang- 
ing in my study along with that as Captain to show 
that I had the good-will of the powers that were. 
Thus ended my four years in the service of my 
country, offering life and all that I had for the 
Union. 


CHAPTER IT 


CoLLEGE AND MARRIAGE 


Ir was during my stay in Springfield, while wounded 
and while acting as chiet clerk in the Provost- 
Marshall’s office, that an event occurred which had 
much to do in shaping my after-life. As an addi- 
tional clerk was needed to assist me in my work, 
a young man was detailed from the 10th Illinois 
Cavalry, by the name of A. N. Harris. He and I 
became well acquainted and were very good friends. 
Later on in the war, I wished to send two of my 
sisters outside of the region subject to Confederate 
raids, and at the same time to give them educational 
privileges. -[ wrote to my friend Harris to recom- 
mend some college in [llinois to which I could send 
them. Having been a student in Abingdon college, 
in Abingdon, Illinois, he naturally recommended 
that institution. Thither I sent them. At the close 
of the war my brother Wiliam and I went there 
to see them, going by way of Springfield, Illinois, 
to visit the grave of our martyred President Lin- 
coln. What follows formed a radical change in my 
life and life-plans. How small an event sometimes 
serves to work very radical changes in one’s life! 
By what strange providence did it happen that the 
young man, who was detailed as my assistant in the 
office at Springfield, chanced to be a student of one 
of our colleges, and himself a staunch member of 
that body under whose auspices that college was 
founded. Yes, ‘‘there is a divinity which shapes 
our ends’? and we do not understand the means 
which this divinity uses for the accomplishment of 
its purposes. 
45 


46 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


It was not long after meeting my sisters at Abing- 
don college that they told me that they had united 
with the ‘‘ Christian Church’’ which we had formerly 
heard called ‘‘Campbellites’’ in the part of the coun- 
try where we had been raised. I expressed my sur- 
prise at this change in their religious attitude, and 
my fear that the Baptist church would not receive 
them back into the fold. They good-naturedly in- 
formed me that they had no desire or purpose ever 
to return to the Baptist Church. They felt sure 
that they had found something that was more in 
harmony with New Testament teaching and they 
felt sure that I would approve it when I came to 
understand it. This astonished me more than ever, 
for I had carried with me the reports and prejudices 
that had been with me from my earliest recollec- 
tions. 

These sisters, however, prevailed on us to remain 
and take the college course. After some hesitation, 
and consultation with the college authorities, we 
decided to enter the college. I told the college 
faculty that, in view of my advanced age—I was 
twenty-three my last birthday—I could remain in 
college for only three years. I did not feel that I 
could spare the time from the career that I had 
pictured for myself, for any longer course. I was 
then in robust health and was anxious to enter active 
life. The truth is, I had political ambitions and felt 
that the path of progress lay invitingly before me at 
that time. I assured the college authorities that 
I could take their four years’ course in three years, 
if they would divide up my studies accordingly. 
They accepted my offer and assigned me the four- 
years’ classical course. I performed the work with- 


COLLEGE AND MARRIAGE 47 


in the three years, and received their A.B. degree 
at the commencement on June 29, 1868. 

Needless to say, I took little time for exercise or 
sports of any kind during that period. I would not 
advise any young man to ask for this condensation 
of time, or any college to grant it. But dear old 
Abingdon college, with all its limitations, has a 
warm place in my heart even though it has long 
since become a part of Eureka college. 

Something had happened, or at least transpired, 
during my college career and early in it, to change 
my plan of life. This college and the church con- 
nected with it were associated with this reforma- 
tory movement, and believed in it emphatically. 
They did not fail to make the students of the college 
understand what that position was. Why should 
they not do so if they believed it to be of God? 
When I heard this position presented clearly, as one 
adapted to the religious needs of the world today, 
and especially its plea for the unity of Christians, 
it appealed to me so strongly as not only to bring 
about my identification with it, but to convince me 
that the greatest good I could do in the world was 
to advocate and propagate this plea for a united 
church on the New Testament basis. This cause 
seemed to me so vastly important and urgent as to 
justify me in throwing aside my political plans and 
ambitions and giving myself wholly to it. This was 
a great change in my life-plans but one I have never 
regretted, believing it was of God. 

It may be asked what were the features of this 
plea that wrought such a radical revolution in my 
life-plans. First of all, the college president, J. W. 
Butler, who was a graduate of Bethany, and reflect- 
ing, no doubt, the lessons he had learned from Alex- 


48 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


ander Campbell in his morning lectures, made the 
Bible a more intelligible book, with its Old and New 
Covenants, presenting a progressive revelation 
culminating in Christ. Then the clarification of the 
terms of salvation under Christ, with the emphasis 
on human responsibility in accepting these terms. 
But greatest of all was its advocacy of Christian 
union, by casting off our denominational names, 
creeds, and party spirit and coming together in 
Christ in order that the world might believe that 
God had sent him to be the Savior of the world. 
I had been advocating and fighting for the union of 
States under one flag, and one constitution. Why 
not stand for the union of Christians under one 
Leader and one Bible as our common rule of faith 
and practice? These things appealed to my reason, 
and to my heart, and I resolved to devote my life to 
their advocacy. Had I never gone to college my life 
might have run in very different channels. 

It is not strange, therefore, that I place a very 
high estimate upon the relation of our colleges to 
the advancement of the cause we plead, and to the 
recruiting of young lives for the service of God, and 
especially of young men to the ministry of the Gos- 
pel. Judging from my own personal experience, I 
should say it is not an easy question for a young 
man to decide as to what is the best use he can 
make of his life. He has probably entered college 
with other plans in his mind, of a business or social, 
or political character, and there must be motives 
of a very high character to lead such a one to sur- 
render the ideals he had cherished, perhaps from 
childhood, to accept another which would lead him 
to dedicate his time and talents to the preaching 
of the Gospel. One enters college with an open mind 


COLLEGE AND MARRIAGE 49 


and with a desire to learn all that will be useful 
to him in making the best of life. Students are 
therefore, in a receptive mood. Their minds are in 
the formative period, and they are prepared then, as 
they are never likely to be afterwards, for weighing 
this important question: ‘‘In what way can I best 
serve my age and generation?”’ 

Of course, I am assuming that the college is aware 
of its responsibility, as relates to this very question, 
and functions accordingly. I believe this to be true, 
as far as my knowledge extends, of our own institu- 
tions of learning, and I presume it is true of the 
colleges of other religious bodies. I will be par- 
doned, perhaps, for saying, in view of this fact, that 
we Disciples of Christ have been very slow to 
recognize our duty in giving such endowment to 
our colleges as to enable them to accomplish their 
important work in the most efficient manner. I am 
glad to add, however, that there are hopeful signs 
of an awakening to a fuller realization of our obliga- 
tions to these institutions. 


ANOTHER FACT 


It was during my college life at Abingdon that 
another fact occurred which, no doubt, had much to 
do with the shaping of my future life. It was there 
that I formed the acquaintance of, and a very high 
esteem for, and personal attachment to, a young 
woman who was in the same college with me and 
who was a member of the same graduating class. 
She was Miss Judith Elizabeth Garrett, of Camp 
Point, Lllinois. The attachment proved to be 
mutual and the result was, we decided to get 
married, and not without good opportunity to know 
each other very well during those years of intimate 


50 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


association. Perhaps there is no place where we 
can learn to know each other quite so well as in 
college. The marriage ceremony was performed at 
Camp Point in Adams County, Illinois, just one week 
after our graduation—July 2, 1868. An older sister 
of my wife was married at the same time to a life- 
long friend and fellow-soldier of mine, J. H. Smart. 
This double ceremony was performed by Prof. A. J. 
Thomson, one of the teachers in college. 

This union of mine with Miss Garrett no doubt 
had much to do in carrying out my life-plans to 
whatever degree of success they may have attained, 
for she was in hearty sympathy with my ideals. 
Choosing a life-companion to share with one, in the 
intimacy of wedlock, the labors and trials, the joys 
and sorrows, the hopes and disappointments, the 
successes and failures, incident to this mortal life, 
is one of the pivotal points in the history of any 
man or woman. When we witness the thoughtless- 
ness with which this relation is often entered into, 
there is no need to wonder at the number of divorces 
which we read about in the papers. I would be glad 
if any word of caution I might add here would cause 
any of our younger readers to consider more care- 
fully this important matter of choosing their life- 
companions. 

The woman I married was a Disciple, born and 
bred and trained as such, while I was but a recent 
convert to a movement which was henceforth to 
absorb our time and energy. 


CHAPTER IV 


BEGINNING oF EprTorRiAL WorK 


Nort long after I was married, and while we were 
still living at Abingdon, in a cottage which I had 
purchased for the use of my sisters and myself 
during our college life, I received a call which had 
much to do in shaping the particular course which 
my life energies should take. One of my teachers, 
J. C. Reynolds, the professor of ancient languages, 
was pastor of the church in Macomb, Illinois. (1 
hate to think what meagre salaries these devoted 
professors must have received from the college. 
Certainly most of them had to supplement their 
incomes by other work to live at all.) He had re- 
signed his position in the college to give his time 
to the church and other work, when he wrote me, 
asking me to become associate pastor with him of 
the Christian Church in Macomb. I very readily 
accepted this call, regarding a ‘‘half loaf’’ as better 
than no bread, and went down in the early autumn 
of 1868. 

I had preached my first regular sermon a short 
time before at Bushnell, Illinois, whither I had gone 
to fill an appointment of Brother Reynolds, who was 
detained in Macomb by the death of one of the mem- 
bers. I was wholly unknown to the church and had 
this advantage, that no one there knew that this 
was my first sermon. I did not disclose this fact 
until after the meeting had adjourned. I was ac- 
customed to public speaking, however, from my boy- 
hood and did not exhibit the bashfulness of a 
beginner. It was not strange, therefore, that the 
members expressed surprise on learning that it was 

51 


52 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


my first attempt to preach. I do not even recall 
the text on which I based my sermon, much less the 
sermon. 

IT have mentioned J. C. Reynolds as the man who 
invited me to share with him the pastorate of the 
Christian Church in Macomb, Ill. I feel that I ought 
to pause here to pay tribute to one of the best men 
it has been my privilege to know, and one who had 
much to do in determining the direction of my life- 
work. He was a graduate of Bethany college and 
served for a time as professor of Ancient Languages 
in Abingdon college, where I came to know him. He 
was a man of wisdom rather than of genius or 
brilliancy. He was pure in heart and in life and 
sought to serve. He was humble in spirit and never 
sought prominence, but only to be useful. If I have 
succeeded in the work to which I have so largely 
devoted my life, to Brother J. C. Reynolds belongs 
the credit for discovering that talent and guiding 
me quietly to engage in religious journalism. 

Shortly after I had joined him in Macomb in the 
work of the ministry, he asked me to become co- 
editor with him of a monthly magazine called the 
Gospel Echo which had recently come into his 
possession. This seemed to me to offer a wider 
field of usefulness and at the request of Brother 
Reynolds, I accepted the position. Accordingly, on 
the first day of January, 1869, there was issued the 
first number of that magazine under our joint con- 
trol as editors and publishers. This was the be- 
ginning of my editorial career. Little did I dream 
of all that was involved in that humble beginning; 
of the long years of hardship, sacrifice, responsi- 
bility and earnest toil, by day and by night, which 
were to follow. 


BEGINNING OF EDITORIAL WORK Oss 


A bound volume of the Gospel Echo for 1869 lies 
before me asI write. After a flattering introduction 
of myself by Brother Reynolds, there follows my 
‘‘Salutatory’’ as the first article on the editorial 
page. In that salutation, I was humble enough to 
say: ‘“‘I bring to the columns of The Echo no 
trained quill that has won renown on the oft-con- 
tested field of intellectual combat; no mind rich in 
the treasures of wisdom gleaned from a long and 
eventful life, nor self-illumined by the scintillations 
of its own genius.’’ Slightly sophomoric, do you 
say? Well, remember that I had only been a few 
months out of college! That salutatory closes with 
the following paragraph: 

‘‘Our bark is ready. Carefully, hopefully, prayer- 
fully, we commit it to the great sea of religious 
literature. Our sails are unfurled. Our colors float 
proudly from the summit of the mast. With our 
hands at the helm, and our eyes steadily fixed on 
Bethlehem’s Star, a ‘God bless you’ and a ‘A happy 
New Year to all,’ and we make our editorial bow.”’ 


Little did I know what I was bowing myself into at 
the time. It is well that the Lord hides from our eyes 
the magnitude and difficult nature of the tasks to 
which he calls us. It is enough to know that the 
work is His and that we are working with Him. 
‘Sufficient unto the day is its own evil.’’ ‘‘My 
grace is sufficient for thee.’’ These red-letter truths 
stand out prominently near the close of a long life 
that has had frequent occasion to test them in the 
fires of experience. Do right TODAY and fear not 
the evil of TOMORROW. He whom we follow in 
right doing, will care for us in any evil conse- 
quences that may come to us because of our so 
doing. On the same principle, if God calls us to a 


54 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


difficult task, He will supply wisdom and grace to 
us to accomplish it if we seek His help. 

T had not been editor very long until I was con- 
vinced that if I was to do anything worth while in 
the line of religious journalism a larger center must 
be found, and that the paper should be a weekly 
instead of a monthly journal. Accordingly arrange- 
ments were made for the publication of such a paper 
in October, 1871. 

The September issue of The Gospel Echo con- 
tained a prospectus of the ‘‘Christian Missionary’’ 
to begin in Chicago in the following month. This 
prospectus stated that business men of moral 
integrity, financial ability, and Chicagoan energy, 
stood behind this enterprise determined to see it 
successful. In addition to this pledged capital, this 
prospectus mentioned as additions to our editorial 
staff, such men as President J. W. Butler, President 
H. W. Everest, Professors A. M. Weston, A. P. Aten, 
B. J. Radford and O. P. Hay. But alas for the plans 
of man! About the time these plans were con- 
summated, the great Chicago fire occurred, destroy- 
ing so large a part of the city. I immediately went 
up to Chicago to find out how the fire had affected 
our newspaper plans. I found there that the men 
who were backing the enterprise had suffered great 
loss and our plans in that direction were all defeated. 

Then my thought turned toward St. Louis as a 
publishing center. But on account of financial re- 
strictions, it was decided to move first to Quincy, IIl., 
where further preparation could be made for the 
larger venture. 

At this time occurred another event in the widen- 
ing range of circumstances that were shaping the 
future destiny of our paper. The Christian was the 


BEGINNING OF EDITORIAL WORK ay 


name of a weekly paper published in western Mis- 
souri and edited by some of our able men such as T. 
P. Haley, George W. Longan, Alexander Procter, A. 
B. Jones, Geo. Plattenburg. It would have been im- 
possible to find, anywhere in the entire brotherhood, 
an abler group of men, intellectually and spiritually, 
than these. And yet, The Christian had failed 
financially under their management, and Brother 
Longan wrote to me asking that it be consolidated 
with the new weekly soon to begin at Quincy. The 
proposition was readily accepted, for it offered a 
wider field for our proposed paper. And yet, it 
seemed strange to me that such intellectual giants 
should be willing to turn over the control of their 
paper to a young man recently out of college, for 
by this time the chief responsibility of editing and 
financing the paper had devolved on me. 

And so, in the autumn of 1871, began the publica- 
tion of The Gospel Echo and Christian at Quincy, 
Illinois, changing our monthly into a weekly. With 
the beginning of 1872, I dropped the first part of 
the name and assumed the title of The Christian; 
a name of which I had always been fond. During 
the following two years at Quincy, we increased 
the circulation of the paper and gave the brother- 
hood some idea of the kind of paper The Christian 
was to be. 

It was while in Quincy, that I first met with W. 
F’. Richardson who was then a young man working 
in the printing establishment where our paper was 
published, and who had to do with mailing it. He 
had the same cheery and jovial disposition in his 
work then, that he has always manifested, and per- 
formed his duties with the same conscientious faith- 
fulness which has always characterized him. This 


56 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


was before he began his college life at Eureka. It 
was there and then that a friendship was begun 
that has grown closer and stronger with the passing 
years. A better man than W. F. Richardson, I have 
never known. 

Another incident occurred during the last of the 
two years we spent in Quincy, which is mentioned 
here as one of the signs of the times. I had a visit 
one day from the venerable D. Pat Henderson and 
Enos Campbell, the latter being the pastor of the 
Central Christian Church in St. Louis. Brother 
Henderson read in his dramatic way a long and very 
caustic article on the organ question—then one of 
the hotly-disputed questions among us. The article 
discussed the events connected with the use of the 
organ in the Central Church in St. Louis and the 
opposition to it, and answered the argument against 
it in a very thorough fashion. When he had finished 
reading it, he brought down his fist on my desk with 
considerable force saying in hig rather imperious 
fashion, ‘‘Now, sir, we want you to publish that 
article in The Christian!’’ Knowing my personal 
views on the subject he fully expected I would agree 
to do so. When I answered him in an equally 
emphatic manner, ‘‘No, I will not publish it,’’ he 
gave me such a lecture as a gray-haired veteran of 
the cross felt he had a right to give to a young 
editor. Brother Campbell was more gentle in his 
persuasion, but I explained to them that should I 
print their article I should have to print a reply to 
it and that our paper would become the medium of 
a prolonged discussion of the organ question. I 
felt there were far more important matters for dis- 
cussion and determined that these should occupy our 
columns. I feel now that this was right, but I mar- 


BEGINNING OF EDITORIAL WORK 57 


vel that a young man should have put his judgment 
against that of such widely-known and long ex- 
perienced men as these two brethren. But they had 
come out of the atmosphere of a local conflict, and 
were not looking at the subject from an editor’s 
point of view. We parted good friends and always 
remained such. 


This incident may be considered as typical of the 
policy of the paper throughout its entire history, 
not to be side-tracked into minor issues, but to keep 
in the middle of the road, and to devote its columns 
to the main issues. This policy has often provoked 
eriticism from its readers who were interested in 
some local or temporary issue. An editor must take 
a wider view of things, and keep in touch with the 
best thought of the time, and this course will pro- 
voke criticism from good brethren, for the time 
being, but sooner or later they come to see the larger 
truth, and thus a healthy progress is assured. 


CHAPTER V 
On to St. Lovis—HAarLty STRUGGLES 


Tue year 1873 was given largely to preparation 
for the removal of the paper to St. Louis. Located, 
as that city was, on that great national artery, the 
Mississippi river, the ‘‘Father of Waters,’’ and in 
the heart of the continent, with an equal number of 
great states on the eastern and western sides of it, 
it seemed to be a suitable center for a great pub- 
lishing house. Of course, the union with ‘*The 
Christian’’ and the promise of the help of the strong 
men who were its editors, strengthened our purpose 
and confidence in making that great city the center 
of our operations in the publishing business. 

Feeling that our plans were too large for in- 
dividual capital—at least for my individual capital, 
—I proceeded to organize the Christian Publishing 
Company, a stock company on a basis of fifty thou- 
sand dollars capital stock, the shares being one 
hundred dollars each, a certain per cent to be paid 
as demanded. The full amount of this stock I think 
was never subscribed, nor the full amount paid of 
that which was subscribed, but enough was _ sub- 
scribed and paid to enable us to incorporate and to: 
begin operations in St. Louis, January 1, 1874. 
There were difficulties ahead of us, of course, which 
we did not foresee, among which were, the amount 
of expense, insufficient capital, inexperience, and an 
only partially friendly reception from those whom 
we had a right to expect would be in sympathy with 
us in St. Louis. 

An incident illustrating the last point; soon after 
beginning the publication of The Christian in St. 

58 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES 59 


Louis, having meanwhile placed our membership 
in the Central Christian Church, I visited the 
prayer-meeting of the First Christian Church, and 
at its close requested the officers of the church and 
any others interested, to remain to hear a matter 
I wished to present. Having mentioned the removal 
of our paper to St. Louis and our aim to make it an 
instrument under God for promoting our cause, I 
requested their patronage and co-operation in the 
enterprise. The leading elder, a man of high stand- 
ing in the church and in the city, said there was one 
question, the answer to which would decide the at- 
titude of that church to the paper: Was it to be a 
steadfast opponent of the innovation of the organ in 
our churches? I answered him frankly that I did 
not intend to treat the use of an organ, or instru- 
mental music in our churches as a vital issue; that 
I should leave that question to the local churches to 
decide for themselves; that there were other ques- 
tions which I deemed vastly more important to which 
I hoped to give attention. ‘*Then,’’ he said, ‘‘you 
need not expect any sympathy or aid from this 
church!’’ Others present seemed to accept that view 
of things; and, let me state here, these were all 
good and true brethren who believed that they were 
simply being loyal to the Bible and to our cause in 
assuming this attitude. Most of them lived to see 
the folly of their position, but the incident shows 
one of the obstacles our paper had to contend with, 
not only in that city, but in a large number of 
churches throughout the brotherhood. 

It was our good fortune, entering upon a wider 
career from this larger center, to cope with this 
passing error and to plead for a broader and more 
spiritual interpretation of the Bible and of our 


60 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


mission as a religious movement. Of course, this 
involved the loss of a certain kind of patronage at 
a critical period in the history of our publishing 
enterprise; but this was inevitable. The error was 
quite formidable, including among its advocates, as 
already stated, some honorable brethren to whose 
learning and devotion to the essential principles of 
our plea, we are greatly indebted, but in a decade, 
or thereabouts, from the time of our removal to St. 
Louis, this propaganda had lost its main force and 
remained only as a lingering prejudice. Like every 
other error, it had to be outgrown and this took 
some time as well as a different type of religious 
instruction. 


The service rendered to our cause, during this 
period, not only as respects freedom in religious 
worship, but in behalf of missions and of a truer 
conception of our mission and work, by the Chris- 
tran Standard under the able editorship of Isaac 
Krrett, it would be difficult to estimate. I felt it an 
honor, as a younger man, to be an intimate and 
trusted co-laborer with this gifted man of God. Our 
journals stood for the same great principles, and 
we often conferred concerning the questions of im- 
portance which arose from time to time in the 
brotherhood. 


A brief statement concerning the leading religious 
journals among us at this date, and their attitude, 
may not be uninteresting. The oldest, and the one 
which had been until within recent years the most 
influential, was the American Christian Review, 
edited by Benjamin Franklin. It was outspoken 
in its opposition to missionary societies and the 
use of instrumental music in the worship, and to our 
colleges, which were all declared to be without au- 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES 61 


thority. The Christian Standard, of which Isaac 
Errett was the editor, was started in 1866. Many 
brethren felt that the Review no longer fairly repre- 
sented our position. The Standard stood for 
progress; for Christian liberty; for the use of all 
wise expedients for advancing the cause; for higher 
education; and for a more spiritual conception of 
Christianity. The Apostolic Times was established 
in Lexington a few years later, with a group of our 
ablest and most widely-known brethren, M. E. Lard, 
W. H. Hopson, L. B. Wilkes, J. W. McGarvey, and 
Robert Graham, as editors. Its purpose was to 
counteract what its editors regarded as extreme pro- 
eressive tendencies among us. The Evangelist of 
Towa, under the editorship of B. W. Johnson, and 
others earlier than he, and the Christian at St. 
Louis, under the editorship of myself and others who 
had preceded me, were both older in their origin 
than either the Times or the Standard. They were 
essentially in harmony with the Christian Standard. 
All these journals had a struggle in their earlier 
history to perpetuate their existence. Once or twice 
the Christian Standard was on the eve of suspen- 
sion. The Apostolic Times was soon calling for 
help, and changed its name and ownership, and ulti- 
mately passed out of existence. The Christian and 
the Evangelist of Iowa had passed through similar 
experiences. If the history of journalism among us 
should ever be written fully, it would constitute one 
of the most heroic, and even pathetic, chapters in 
our history. 

Now that the Christian Publishing Company had 
been organized in St. Louis and the first issue of 
the paper had been launched at the beginning of 
the year 1874, with a strong editorial corps, it 


62 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


seemed that our newspaper craft had outridden the 
storm and henceforth was to have smooth sailing. 
In the leading editorial of that initial number en- 
titled ‘‘Our New Home,’’ it is said: ‘‘St. Louis is 
a great center, and that is why the Christian is here. 
Radiating from it in all directions are the various 
railroads, and moving grandly and solemnly along 
by it is the lordly Mississippi, opening up to us the 
snow fields of Minnesota and the cotton fields of the 
great South.’’ As indicating the spirit of optimism, 
the editorial closes with this sentence: ‘‘We are 
undertaking a great work for Christ here in this 
city, and with your hearty aid and God’s approving 
smile, we shall succeed.’’ 


Such was the optimistic spirit with which the 
paper was launched from its new center, and under 
its new auspices. ‘T'o inexperienced eyes the out- 
look was full of encouragement. I wonder how many 
of the greatest triumphs, and the noblest enterprises 
of men are due to the ignorance of inexperience! 
When some one shall write the history of such enter- 
prises and achievements it will be known how much 
the world is indebted to young and inexperienced 
men, who, unaware of the difficulties and trials be- 
fore them, have fearlessly undertaken tasks from 
which wiser and more prudent men would have re- 
coiled. The venerable editor of our leading religious 
paper at that time used to refer to me as ‘‘The 
young editor with a stock company behind his 
back!’’ I was pictured as having a luxurious time 
sitting in my editorial office and issuing orders to 
subordinates while the venerable editor aforesaid 
was traveling and preaching the gospel among the 
churches. True, we had a stock company, with a 
subscribed capital of $50,000, but this was payable 


ON TO ST. LOUIS-—-EARLY STRUGGLES 63 


only on assessment, not more than 5 per cent at 
one time, and not more than 10 per cent in any one 
year. Besides, it was the general expectation of 
most of these stockholders that only a very few 
assessments would be necessary until the paper 
would be paying its own way. Certainly it had a 
strong editorial and contributing staff. J. C. Reyn- 
olds, G. W. Longan and A. F. Smith were assistant 
editors, while our list of regular contributors in- 
cluded O. A. Burgess, H. W. Everest, J. M. Henry, 
J. H. McCollough, J. H. Smart, and L. B. Wilkes. 


One of the first mistakes made by the new pub- 
lishing company was the purchase of a large print- 
ing office on Main and Olive streets. This was fitted 
up for job work and miscellaneous printing, as well 
as for our own publications. We got out the City 
Directory of St. Louis, which required a large num- 
ber of printers. My editorial office was at first in a 
small room in the printing office, but later a large 
and elegant room was taken on the fifth floor of the 
Equitable Building on Sixth and Locust Streets, 
which at that time commanded a wide view of the 
Mississippi River and of the level regions of Illinois 
beyond. This arrangement we found, however, too 
inconvenient, and at the end of the year our editorial 
office was again brought into closer contact with the 
printing office. In those earlier days I was editor, 
proof-reader and business manager, all in one, 
though assisted in most of these duties by my 
assistant, A. F. Smith. 

It soon became evident that the company was 
running behind. Bills came in with great regularity 
and with appalling magnitude. The stockholders had 
been drawn on for all the assessments they would 
stand for the year. These days were full of toil, 


64. MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


and the nights full of restless anxiety. Early in the 
year of 1875, having one day made an investigation 
into the condition of the company, I became con- 
vinced that a crisis was imminent, and that things 
could not go on as they were going. I went to my 
office on Second and Olive streets, and pondered 
over the situation. The future was dark and 
ominous. Was my cherished object of establishing 
a great religious journal and a publishing house in 
St. Louis to be thwarted by a financial failure? 
Feeling that I was at the end of my own wisdom 
and strength, I fell on my knees and committed the 
whole case to God, and asked His help in the crisis 
that I saw was upon us. I went home that night 
with a heavy heart, and lay down at last to a troubled 
sleep. Does God hear and answer prayer? 
Between midnight and day there was a loud knock- 
ing on the door by a policeman’s club. When asked 
what was wanted, he wished to know if this was 
Mr. Garrison’s residence. On being told that it was, 
he said, ‘‘His printing office is on fire!’’ Hastily 
dressing I walked the three or four miles through 
the snow from North St. Louis, where I was then 
living, as the street cars were not running at that 
hour. Arriving at the scene, I found the engines 
still at work, though the fire was practically ex- 
tinguished. Such a scene of desolation and chaos I 
had never witnessed before. The office was in ruins, 
the cases were upset, type scattered everywhere, and 
the whole covered with slushy ice. A meeting of 
directors was called at once. They decided that all 
business must stop, all employees be discharged, all 
expenses cease, while the officers of the company 
were to try to collect what was due to it, and meet 
its obligations as fast as possible. In this extremity 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES 65 


I assumed personal responsibility for the continued 
publication of the paper, and issued at once a minia- 
ture copy, a four-page sheet dated Feb. 11, 1875, 
announcing our disaster, and urging our friends to 
stand by us in this time of calamity. In another 
week the normal size of the paper was resumed, and 
it was carried forward without missing a number. 
A call was made on the stockholders for an assess- 
ment, and as rapidly as this was collected, the debts 
were paid. I was enabled with the subscriptions and 
advertisements of the paper to carry it on, and we 
were coming out instead of going wm. Looking back 
over the condition of things at that time it is easy 
to see that our calamity was a blessing in disguise. 
The Lord had ‘‘answered by fire.’’ 


While the fire had stopped the process of getting 
deeper into debt, the process of getting out of debt 
was slow and full of painful anxiety. Often when 
I went to bed at night I had no idea where the 
money was to come from to meet a note falling due 
in the bank next day. Butit came from some source, 
and every dollar of indebtedness was paid, and no 
note of the company or of my own ever went to 
protest. Of course, this involved hardships and 
deprivations, not for myself alone, but for my 
family, of which few people know anything, and my 
wife shared in the hardships and self-denials of 
those trying years. Of course, our meager living 
expenses had to be earned by my preaching on 
Sundays. 


After one year of battling alone, after the fire, 
I called to my assistance my brother-in-law, J. H. 
Smart, who left a successful pastorate and came to 
help me work out our problem. We had known each 
other from childhood; we had attended the same 


66 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


common school in our boyhood; were soldiers to- 
gether in the Civil War; had graduated in the same 
class at college, and had married sisters. I knew 
him to be thoroughly reliable, possessed of good 
business ability, as well as a good education, and 
that his wife would be a valuable help with him. 
From the time of his arrival, he assumed joint re- 
sponsibility with me for carrying on the Christian, 
as the company had not yet resumed business, and 
all our business was transacted under the title of 
‘‘Garrison and Smart.’’ The period of stress was 
not yet over by any means, but its toils and priva- 
tions were now shared by another, who proved him- 
self in every way a most valuable helper. The stock- 
holders soon reached what they regarded as the 
limit of their assessments, some with fifteen per 
cent, some with twenty per cent, and a few with 
twenty-five per cent of the stock subscribed. Few 
went beyond that. They were given the option of 
transferring their stock to us that we might meet 
the obligations of the company, or paying their 
assessments. Nearly all of them surrendered their 
stock gladly, having considered their assessments 
as a contribution to the establishment of the paper. 
The stock, however, was regarded as of no value, 
and could not have been hypothecated for a dollar 
in any of the banks of the city. When the debts of 
the company had been paid, there was a reorganiza- 
tion of the Christian Publishing Co., and the busi- 
ness was carried forward again under that name. 
Neither Brother Smart nor myself, however, re- 
ceived any fixed salary from the company as yet for 
our services. 

It would not be profitable nor interesting to 
narrate the financial and other difficulties which had 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—-EARLY STRUGGLES 67 


to be met in the next decade in order to carry for- 
ward this enterprise. Nothing but a deep sense of 
the need of such a journal as we proposed to estab- 
lish, and our belief in its ultimate success, could 
have persuaded us to press forward through those 
trying years. There was a time when my life in- 
surance had to be drawn on to keep the press run- 
ning, and to feed the printers. My own and my 
wife’s property had previously been laid on the altar 
for the same purpose. And so the press never 
stopped, nor did the printers ever go hungry for 
lack of their pay. In every crisis the Lord opened 
a way for us to go on, though we could not always 
see the opening until the necessity was upon us. I 
had a feeling that the Lord, by His providence, had 
called me to this work and that if I trusted Him and 
went forward, He would provide a way of escape 
from, or strength to overcome, every frowning ob- 
stacle. 

During these years there was much discussion in 
our newspapers about missionary plans, the right 
to use instrumental music in the churches, chureh 
organization, our relation to other religious bodies, 
and whether our congregations should receive the 
plous unimmersed. It was along in the ’70’s that 
an event occurred which served to show that many 
of our brethren and scribes had forgotten what man- 
ner of men they were. Moses KE. Lard, than whom 
no man among us stood higher as a preacher or 
writer, and as an undaunted defender of the faith, 
issued a small pamphlet, in which he set forth the 
view that aiontos, as applied to future punishment, 
did not necessarily mean everlasting, and that we 
could not certainly predicate, on the meaning of that 
term, the theory of endless punishment for those 


68 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


who die impenitent. It was not, of course, a new 
interpretation of that term, but it was a new method 
of escape for Brother Lard from consequences which 
he was, in his later years, unable to bear, with the 
literal view which he held of punishment. He was 
at once assailed by his brethren for being a Univer- 
salist, and it was openly advocated by many that 
fellowship should be withdrawn from him for hold- 
ing and publishing -his opinion! Brother Lard’s 
prominence and influence in the brotherhood made 
this view seem very dangerous to many brethren, 
and there was no little excitement. In the midst of 
it all, without at all endorsing or defending Brother 
Lard’s view, I defended his right to hold any view 
which might seem to him true concerning the mean- 
ing of the Greek word in question, without forfeit- 
ing his right to the love and fellowship of his 
brethren. Then I was charged with being a Uni- 
versalist! Many brethren were unable to perceive 
that my defense of Christian liberty had nothing to 
do with my view of the correctness of Brother 
Lard’s theory. 

At the same time Isaac Errett was publishing in 
the Christian Standard a series of editorials point- 
ing out the untenableness of Brother Lard’s view. 
Some of my critics referred to this fact, saying that 
while I had departed from the faith, Brother Errett 
was defending our position. In a personal letter to 
Brother Errett I called his attention to the fact that, 
while his criticism of Brother Lard’s pamphlet was 
entirely legitimate, it was being interpreted by a 
certain class of brethren as enforcing their attitude 
in demanding that fellowship be withdrawn from 
Brother Lard for his heresy; and that I was sure 
that he agreed with me that our liberty in Christ 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES 69 


was far more important to the success of our plea 
than any particular theory concerning the meaning 
of aionios. He replied promptly, expressing his 
thorough agreement with me in the position which 
I had taken, and accepted my suggestion that the 
Standard should take a decided stand on the ques- 
tion of Christian liberty which was involved. The 
next issue of the Standard contained one of his 
ablest editorials on ‘‘The Tyranny of Opinionism,”’ 
which left no doubt as to his attitude. About the 
same time, B. W. Johnson, editor of the Evangelist, 
then published at Oskaloosa, Ia., published an edi- 
torial taking the same view. Thus by the united 
voice of these three papers, the tide of sentiment 
was turned, and Brother Lard was permitted to 
spend his closing days in peace. Jn conversation 
with Alexander Procter, whom I met on the train 
about that time, he referred to this incident as 
furnishing the most painful revelation that had ever 
come to him, of how far many of our people had de- 
parted from the real spirit of the Reformation we 
were pleading. 

The problems which confronted us in that period, 
and constituted the main themes of newspaper dis- 
cussion and even of sermons, might be characterized 
as those relating, first, to doctrinal clarification, and 
second, to the organization of our churches for other 
than local work. As to the first, there had already 
begun, at that time, a reaction against an extreme 
legalism which had grown up among us out of our 
frequent debates with the ‘‘sects,’’ as our religious 
neighbors were termed, and a too exclusive emphasis 
on the ‘‘conditions of pardon,’’ to the neglect of 
the more spiritual interpretation of those conditions 
and of the Christian life. Some of our best minds 


70 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


saw the danger of this tendency and began to plead 
for a more catholic, spiritual and less combative 
type of Christianity and of our position. The Chris- 
tran, of course, stood for this wider and deeper view 
of our plea for returning to the Christianity of 
Christ and of the New Testament, and for a more 
fraternal attitude to other believers in Christ who 
walked not with us in all things. The Christian 
Standard of Cincinnati, under the editorship of 
Isaac Errett, stood for the same things, sub- 
stantially, but others of our journals and a large 
section of the brotherhood regarded this position as 
compromising our plea, and as dangerous! We had 
a group of strong men in Missouri who made The 
Christian the organ of those more liberal views, 
while as yet a large majority of the membership in 
the state held to the more conservative view. This, 
of course, made ‘‘hard sledding’’ for our new enter- 
prise, but this majority changed to a diminishing 
minority, as the contest of ideas went on. 


As previously mentioned, a minor and waning 
part of this doctrinal discussion was the question of 
the right of local churches to use the organ or other 
instruments of music in their worship. Brother W. 
T. Moore, pastor of the Central Christian Church in 
Cincinnati for several years, had introduced an 
organ in their church worship, and this precipitated 
the discussion on that subject. Strange as it may 
seem now, some of our ablest men at that time ar- 
rayed themselves on the negative side of this ques- 
tion and argued that it was a compromise, if not a 
complete surrender, of our plea! These were good 
men, and some of them able men, who had the wel- 
fare of our cause on their hearts. It illustrates how 
far the legalistic interpretation of the Scriptures had 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES Feat 


been carried, by the abuse of the motto, ‘‘ Where 
the Scriptures speak, we speak,’’ ete. It cut the 
nerve of religious enterprise and allowed no free- 
dom to use modern inventions and discoveries of 
our age in carrying on the work of the Kingdom. 
It was only a question of a little growth in grace 
and in knowledge of the truth,—that truth which 
makes men free—when this crude view of Chris- 
tianity would be cast aside. 


Closely akin, in spirit, to the discussion of the 
use of the organ in church worship, was that which 
arose about the same time, concerning the right of 
our churches to organize missionary societies, in 
order that they might co-operate more effectively 
in the work of spreading the gospel at home and 
abroad. It was an abnormal fear of ‘‘ecclesias- 
ticism’’ which caused many to oppose such organ- 
izations. They had gotten their necks out of one 
yoke, it was said, and they were not to be entrapped 
in another. This opposition did not seem able to 
discriminate between a form of church government 
that deprives local congregations of their rightful 
freedom, and a voluntary association of churches for 
co-operation in doing what they cannot do sep- 
arately, and what must be done if we are to carry 
out Christ’s commission to evangelize the world. 
This opposition to missionary societies retarded the 
active enlistment of many of our churches in mission- 
ary work even after such organizations were formed. 

Even as late as 1880 we were doing only a limited 
amount of work in home missions, many and inviting 
as these fields were, and had not yet a single mis- 
sionary in pagan lands. In October of that same 
year, at our National Convention in Louisville, I 
was asked by our Foreign Christian Missionary 


t2 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Society to deliver an address and chose as my theme 
the necessity of our engaging in the work of send- 
ing the Gospel to the regions beyond, where the peo- 
ple knew nothing of Christ. 


ORIGIN OF CHILDREN’S DAY 


On the evening before leaving home for the Con- 
vention, at our evening worship, I mentioned my 
journey on the following day to the Convention, and 
what I was going for and what I was going to plead 
for, in my address. After the prayer, in which I 
naturally remembered the cause for which I was 
to speak, our two boys, aged ten and six years, and 
a child niece who was living with us at the time, 
gathered up their pennies and nickels and tied them 
up in a little bag and brought them to me, wholly 
unsolicited, saying, ‘‘ Here is all the money we have 
and we want it to go for the people who have never 
heard about Jesus!’’ Of course, I accepted this gift 
with thanks, and pledged them that it should go to 
the purpose for which they gave it. 


The little bag of small coins footed up only $1.18, 
but I thought I saw in it the prophecy of larger 
things to come. In the midst of my address at the 
Convention, when I had urged that the time had 
come when we ought to send Christ’s Gospel into the 
lands steeped in heathen darkness, I said: ‘‘If you 
older people are not ready to undertake this work, 
call on the children for their offerings and they will 
furnish the money to begin this work at once.’”’ I 
then related the incident mentioned above and hold- 
ing up my little bag of small coins I asked, 
‘Brethren, what will you do with these children’s 
offerings? At present you have no place for it,— 
no fund in which I ean place it.’’ 


ON TO ST. LOUIS—EARLY STRUGGLES 73 


At the close of my address, which seemed to make 
a deep impression on the Convention, Brother J. H. 
Hardin of Missouri moved that a committee be ap- 
pointed to consider and report to the Convention 
on the recommendation of my address, to call on the 
children of the Brotherhood for an offering to start 
a Heathen Missionary Fund. The committee was 
appointed, as I recall, with Brother Hardin as chatr- 
man. The committee reported to the Convention 
the next day recommending that a certain Lord’s 
Day be fixed upon as ‘‘Children’s Day,’’ whereon 
an offering should be called for from all our Sunday 
schools and from our children generally, to create 
a fund, of which the $1.13 should be the nucleus for 
sending the Gospel into pagan lands. The report 
was unanimously and enthusiastically adopted, and 
this was the origin of our ‘‘Children’s Day.”’ 

Brother A. McLean, the honored leader in our 
Foreign Missionary work, many years afterward in 
addressing the College of Missions at Indianapolis 
on ‘‘The Origin and History of our Foreign Work,’’ 
referring to this incident, declared, ‘‘If Garrison 
should live a thousand years he would never rise to 
a greater height than he did that night in pleading 
for foreign missions!’’ Other brethren said there 
was a wave of deep feeling and enthusiasm that 
swept the audience that night, seldom if ever wit- 
nessed in one of our Conventions. But it was not 
the eloquence of the address that moved the people, 
but the sounding of the needed note to awaken the 
brotherhood to a neglected duty, and the opening 
of the vaster field of operations into which the 
Master was calling us. It was the birthnight of a 
new sense of our obligation to send the Gospel to 
heathen lands, and of a new agency for advancing 


74. MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


that work, ‘‘Children’s Day.’’ Therefore, it is 
destined to remain one of the historical occasions in 
the development of our missionary work. 


The first Lord’s day in May was fixed upon for 
Children’s Day by the F. C. M. S. Convention, 
October 21-22, in 1880, as the day in each year when 
our Sunday schools and all children should be asked 
for an offering to support foreign missions. In the 
convention of 1890, Children’s Day was changed to 
the first Lord’s day in June. The children’s offer- 
ing for 1880, as stated above, was $1.13. In 1882, 
it was $758.86. In the first forty years of ‘‘Chil- 
dren’s Day,’’ the offerings amounted to $1,818,- 
314.138. The first missionaries sent out were Mr. 
and Mrs. Albert Norton and Mr. and Mrs. G. L. 
Wharton who sailed from New York to India on 
September 16, 1882. But the chief good of Chil- 
dren’s Day has not been in the large amount of 
money it has raised for missions, but in the develop- 
ment of the missionary spirit in the children of our 
churches and Sunday schools, the results of which 
we are reaping today in our enlarged missionary 
offerings. ‘‘Children’s Day’’ has become an im- 
portant day in our religious calendar, but few 
among us know of its humble origin as above stated 
in the autumn of 1880 at our National Convention in 
Louisville. But ‘‘Large trees from little acorns 
grow, and large streams from little fountains flow.”’ 
God alone knows the far-reaching influence which 
Children’s Day has exerted and will exert, for the 
extension of His Kingdom in the world. 


CHAPTER VI 


EXnauanp, Boston, anp HomME AGAIN 


I come now to a temporary change of base and to 
a new set of experiences in my life-work. A few 
years prior to this, Timothy Coop, a wealthy [Eng- 
lishman connected with our work in England, and 
living at Southport, on the coast about twenty miles 
from Liverpool, had made a visit to the United 
States and was favorably impressed with our 
American methods of church work. He prevailed 
on Dr. W. T. Moore, who had long been pastor of 
the Central Christian Church in Cincinnati, to ac- 
cept the pastorate of the church in Southport, Eng- 
land. Brother Moore, after a pastorate of two 
years in Southport, wrote to me strongly urging that 
I go to England to become pastor of the Southport 
church, relieving him so that he might undertake 
the task of planting a church in Liverpool which 
he and Brother Coop thought important. The 
ehurch in Southport gave me this call and, backed 
up by Dr. Moore’s urging, I yielded. 

After planning for my work in the office of The 
Christian during my absence, myself and wife and 
our two boys, Arthur and Ernest, set sail for Eing- 
land on the steamer, ‘‘City of Richmond’’ which 
sailed from pier 37, New York, at 10 a.m., January 
22,1881. The day was cloudy and cool and drizzling 
rain. It was not a seasonable time for an ocean 
voyage nor would our steamer compare favorably 
with the first-class steamships of today. As the 
vessel pulled out from shore, I lifted my cap to my 
native land which I was leaving for the first time 
and repeated, ‘‘My country ’tis of thee.’’ 

75 


76 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


After a very stormy voyage, during which our 
vessel was often deluged with waves and, as I came 
to realize later better than then, was in serious 
danger of shipwreck, we reached Queenstown, Ire- 
land, where I sent a letter back home and a telegram 
to Dr. Moore at Southport. We landed in Liverpool 
on February 2, 1881,—my thirty-ninth birthday. 
Thus, I began my fortieth year of life in England, 
our mother country. 


In the afternoon we went down to Southport and 
went to the home of Dr. Moore, where we remained 
until we found other quarters. We found South- 
port a pleasant and beautiful little city on the coast 
about twenty miles north of Liverpool. The church 
was not large but was well-housed and made up of 
an intelligent and peaceable membership. The 
Coops were wealthy, but the other members were 
of moderate means. Like our English brethren 
generally, the church was not aggressive in its 
methods of work but it was more liberal in spirit 
than many of our older churches in that country. 


There was, and perhaps is yet, an extremely con- 
servative element there that had lost, if they ever 
possessed, the ideal which our movement had in 
view, and seemed content to champion a certain set 
of views and were not cultivating the spirit of unity 
with other religious bodies. But with W. T. Moore, 
at Liverpool, M. D. Todd, and later, J. M. Van Horn 
at Chester, H. 8S. Earl at Southhampton, and my- 
self at Southport, it might have seemed to those con- 
servative brethren that there was an effort to 
Americanize our cause in England. What is the 
present condition of those churches we are not able 
to say, but we do not think there has been any effort 
to perpetuate the line of American ministers in those 


ENGLAND, BOSTON, AND HOME AGAIN GE 


various places. Whether Brother Coop’s desire 
that the churches in England should catch something 
of the more liberal and aggressive spirit of our 
American churches, was realized to any great ex- 
tent by this invasion of American ministers, I can- 
not say. But, no doubt, our cause was advanced 
by it to some extent. 

While in England we made a trip on the Con- 
tinent, visiting such places as Amsterdam, Antwerp, 
Cologne, Strassburg, Heidelberg, Lucerne, Berne, 
Geneva, and Paris. We were gone about a month 
on that trip, leaving our boys in Southport with a 
Mrs. Lee. It was a too hurried trip to base any 
conclusions on but it was 7’erra Incognita to us, and 
we enjoyed it very much. I do not know how much 
permanent good, if any, was accomplished by our 
stay in England but it was a profitable experience 
in our life of which we retain pleasant memories. 

We enjoyed our stay with the church at South- 
port. But we had not gone to remain permanently, 
feeling that my chief work was to be in the United 
States in connection with The Christian. So we 
sailed for the United States in August, 1882, after 
a residence of nearly two years in England. Our 
relation with the Southport church was most enjoy- 
able and it had within its membership some truly 
loyal souls. But the impression I brought away 
from England was, that the cause represented by 
the Disciples of Christ needed a broader and truer 
interpretation, and a more vivid propagation, to win 
any great success in that very conservative country, 
and that it had been unfortunate in that respect in 
its original introduction. First impressions are hard 
to remove; hence the importance of sending truly 


78 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


respresentative men to present our cause in new 
communities, and especially in foreign lands. 

It seemed very good to be back once more in our 
native land. One does not really appreciate at its 
full, the superior advantages and opportunities of 
his own country until he spends some time in visit- 
ing the older nations of Europe. It did not take long 
for me to resume my place and work on the paper 
in St. Louis and to adjust myself to the old sur- 
roundings. 

Soon after my return from England a union 
proposition which had been pending several years 
took practical shape. It was that of uniting the 
Evangelist, then published in Chicago, with our 
paper, The Christian, of St. Louis, and also the 
combination of the two publishing companies which 
these papers represented, namely, The Central Book 
Concern and The Christian Publishing Company. 
Before removing the Christian from Quincy, Illinois, 
to St. Louis, I had visited Oskaloosa, Ia., where 
the Evangelist was then published, to bring about a 
union of the two papers. All the details were agreed 
upon except the place of publication. B. W. John- 
son, the editor, and F. M. Call, the business man- 
ager, did not see their way at that time to change 
their location, while my heart was then set on St. 
Louis as the proper center for a great publishing 
house for the Disciples of Christ. Accordingly, I 
organized the Christian Publishing Company in St. 
Louis in November, 1873, and began the publication 
of The Christian from that place in January, 
1874. Soon after this the Evangelist Company pur- 
chased the Christian Record, a monthly periodical 
edited by J. M. Mathes, at Bedford, Ind., and united 
it with The Evangelist. Later it bought out the old 


ENGLAND, BOSTON, AND HOME AGAIN 19 


publishing firm of Bosworth, Chase & Hall, of Cin- 
cinnati. This firm owned the plates and published 
about all the books of the brotherhood up to that 
time. The Evangelist Company then changed its 
legal firm name to ‘‘The Central Book Concern,”’ 
and feeling the need of a wider field had moved to 
Chicago. The increased expense of doing business 
in a great city made its proprietors realize the value 
of the combination proposed, and negotiations were 
again opened looking to that end. A satisfactory 
method of union was agreed upon, and went into 
effect in the autumn of 1882. St. Louis was the 
center, The Christian Publishing Company was the 
firm name, and The Christian-Evangelist became 
the name of the paper. 


Thus flowed together two streams, as blend the 
Mississippi and the Missouri rivers just above St. 
Louis, to form ‘‘the father of waters.’’ These two 
streams were themselves formed by numerous 
tributaries, having their sources principally in 
Illinois, Iowa, Missouri and Indiana. The Hvangel- 
ist dated back to 1850 with its tributary, the Chris- 
tian Record, whose origin was probably later. The 
Christian had in its veins the blood of a long line of 
ancestors, among which were the Gospel Echo, and 
the Christian Herald, and a number of predecessors 
whose work it came to do, as the Bible Advocate, 
the Christian Sentinel and the Christian Messenger, 
of which Barton W. Stone was an editor; all these 
of Illinois. In Missouri was the Christian, which 
was absorbed by the Gospel Echo, which took its 
name, and the Christian Pioneer, so that the Chris- 
tian Publishing Company and The Christian-Evan- 
gelist of today are an inheritance from the past. 
They represent the lives and labors of generations 


SO MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


of loving and loyal hearts. They have become an 
integral part of the brotherhood they have so long 
served. Men may come and men may go, but a great 
publishing house, or a great religious journal, 
having its roots in the long past, and yet keeping 
in touch and in vital union with the great living 
interests of today, goes on fulfilling its beneficent 
mission from generation to generation. The union 
of the two companies and papers mentioned proved 
to be a fortunate one. The Christian and the Evan- 
gelist were conducted on very much the same lines, 
so that there was no compromise on the part of the 
editors involved in the union. Brother B. W. John- 
son was an able writer and, what is much rarer, a 
good editor. F. M. Call was a good financier and 
economical manager. The combination easily placed 
the Christian Publishing Company at the head of 
our publishing houses. 

There seemed to be an embarrassing wealth of 
editors growing out of this union, as Brother J. H. 
Smart was associated with me as editor of the 
Christian at the time. It was agreed, however, that 
this surplus of editors would be only temporary, 
as all of my associates felt at the time that my 
career was nearing its close. I had returned to the 
United States rather worse than when I left, and 
the conviction among my friends was quite general 
that the end was near. It was not long, however, 
until Brother Smart sold his interest in the company 
and opened a publishing business in Kansas City, 
and edited a small paper there. Brother Johnson 
devoted a good part of his time to the Sunday school 
work, preparing our lesson commentary, while the 
burden of editorial control fell on me. This arrange- 
ment continued until the autumn of 1884, when at 


ENGLAND, BOSTON, AND HOME AGAIN 81 


the National Convention held in St. Louis, I was 
urged to accept the care of our mission church in 
Boston, under the employ of the American Christian 
Missionary Society and the New England Society. 
I found that by agreeing to maintain my position on 
the paper, and to write for it each week, the ar- 
rangement would be agreeable to the company, and 
after making a preliminary visit to Boston, to sur- 
vey the field, I accepted the position, and instead of 
dying, as my friends had predicted, I decided to go 
to Boston to begin one of the most difficult tasks of 
my life. 

One of the first things I found necessary to do in 
Boston was to provide a suitable place for our meet- 
ings and worship. Wesleyan Hall, on Bromfield St., 
where the Disciples had been meeting, was inade- 
quate and inconvenient. But this was a large under- 
taking for a feeble folk as we were and it took some 
time to bring it about. On June 15, 1885, I con- 
tracted for the purchase of a large tabernacle on 
Shawmut Ave., at the cost of $18,500, of which 
$1,000 was to be paid in cash when the deed was 
made, $1,000 sixty days afterward, and the re- 
mainder $2,000 per year till the amount was reduced 
to $10,000, which we could carry with mortgage as 
long as we wished. We had to put $1,000 repairs 
in it to get it ready for use. 

The tabernacle was dedicated September 20, 1885, 
in the presence of a very large audience which filled 
the auditorium. Brother R. M. Moffett, our Home 
Secretary, was present with us and preached at 
10:30 a.m. on the text, ‘‘Greater works than these 
shall ye do,’’ ete. I preached the dedicatory sermon 
at 3:00 p.m. on ‘‘Some Characteristics of the 
Church Which Christ Built.’’ There were between 


82 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


five hundred and six hundred people present, most 
of whom, no doubt, had never before heard our 
position as a religious movement expounded. The 
people manifested great interest, and a few promi- 
nent looking gentlemen tarried after the dismissal 
of the audience to ask a few questions concerning 
this strange doctrine and people. We all felt it had 
been a profitable day for our cause in Boston. 
Brother Moffett spoke at night on ‘‘Seeking the 
Old Paths.’ | 


It is impossible to say what amount of good was 
accomplished by my work in Boston, but I put in a 
year and three-quarters of hard work there and 
whatever may be the history of that church we must 
believe that there went out from it certain lines 
of influence which have advanced, and will continue 
to advance the kingdom of Christ. The people of 
New England are pretty well set in their ways of 
thinking, religiously and otherwise, and will be slow 
to accept any reformation originating in the West 
and little more than a century old. 


Our last Lord’s Day in Boston was full of divine 
blessing. There were three to confess Christ in the 
morning service. These were baptized in an after- 
noon service. At night, there was a large audience 
to hear my farewell sermon, and there were some 
additions by letter. On Monday evening, the church 
gave us a farewell supper and social at the taber- 
nacle. Brother W. H. Rogers of Swampscott, made 
a speech to which I responded. There were nearly 
two hundred at the supper and it was altogether an 
occasion of interest, though there was a note of 
sadness in it. We spent Tuesday forenoon getting 
our packing completed and in the afternoon went 
to our train where about twenty of our friends met 


ENGLAND, BOSTON, AND HOME AGAIN 83 


us for a final ‘‘good-bye.’’ Of course, there were 
tears and sadness at this parting. 


We came on westward, reaching Buffalo the next 
morning, where we were met by Brother J. M. 
Trible who told us that Brother Hertzog, who lived 
at Suspension Falls, would show us about the Falls; 
but we did not see him and so we saw the Falls 
without a guide. I preached at night for the church 
in Buffalo, stopping with Brother Trible. Leaving 
Buffalo in the early morning, we came through 
Canada enjoying the autumn scenery which was then 
in its glory. We had an unpleasant experience in 
crossing the Detroit River at Detroit. The river 
is broad and deep there and a stiff gale was blow- 
ing, the waves rolling high. Our train was run on 
to a large ferry-boat. I had taken our party to the 
pilot house. We had passed to the other side and 
the vessel touched the shore but the force of the 
wind, which had developed almost into a hurricane, 
prevented it from entering its slip and drove it back 
into the river where it fell into the trough of the 
waves and rocked so violently as to throw children 
from their seats and to cause both women and chil- 
dren to scream. Being the only man left in our 
sleeper, I did what I could to quiet them, but it 
looked very perilous for a time. Finally, however, 
a landing was effected and then the train had to 
encounter fallen trees across its track through the 
forests of Michigan. 


We landed at St. Louis, Friday morning, October 
15, 1886. This closed the Boston episode of my life, 
covering nearly two years—the forty-third and 
nearly all of the forty-fourth years—the most active 
period of my ministry. Boston is a great city but 


84 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


we were not sorry to be back home at our proper 
work. 

Now followed once more the task of re-adjusting 
my life to my editorial work on The Christian-Evan- 
gelist. This included finding a house in which to 
live, and getting our furniture in and fitted up for 
housekeeping, which was temporarily at 1016 
Cardinal Avenue. But I resumed my editorial 
duties at once. Brother Johnson, who had acted as 
editor during my stay in Boston, gracefully yielded 
to me the editorial management which I had 
formerly held. One of the last letters which I re- 
ceived from Isaac Errett was received at this time, 
congratulating me and the paper on my return to 
my original work. He thought it was a mistake for 
me to have divided my time on the paper with the 
work in Boston, involving, as it did, my absence 
from the office. It may have been, but I was doing 
what seemed to me the best thing at the time. God 
knows the ultimate results. I am sure, too, that I 
must have sought His guidance in making my 
decision. } 

I was asked by the Central Christian Church, 
after my return from Boston, to fill its pulpit till 
January 1, 1887, when Brother J. M. Trible of 
Buffalo, who had been chosen as pastor, would be- 
gin his work. This I did. For the present, Brother 
Trible was only to preach for the church on Sunday 
and act as Assistant Editor of The Christian- 
Evangelist in place of Brother T. W. Grafton, who 
had been Brother Johnson’s assistant. In these 
temporary absences from the office, while in England 
and in Boston, I continued my editorial relations 
with the paper and also my editorial contributions 
to it. 





J. H. GARRISON 


At thirty-four 
At fifty-four 


2. At forty 
4. At sixty-two 








ENGLAND, BOSTON, AND HOME AGAIN 85 


In the spring following our return to St. Louis, 
we began the building of a residence on a lot which 
we had purchased at what was then known as 
‘‘Holmes’ Station’? in the western suburbs of the 
city as it then was. While this was in process of 
building, my time was divided between editorial 
work on the paper and preaching and lecturing 
hither and thither. On Aug. 26, 1887, we decided that 
our new home was near enough completed to move 
into. So, having sent out one load of our furniture we 
managed to sleep in it that night on the date above 
mentioned. I named this place ‘‘Oakdale’’ at first, 
but later when we had improved it I called it ‘‘ Rose 
Hill.’ Bartmer Avenue was the name of the street 
in front of us. This unpretentious home amid the 
trees and flowers became a real home to us. In it 
we lived from 1887 to 1914, the year we moved to 
California—a. period of 27 years, covering, perhaps, 
the busiest and most productive period of my life. 
About it there gather many precious and sacred 
memories. John Howard Payne was surely right 
when he wrote his popular song, ‘‘Home, Sweet 
Home.’’ 


‘**Mid pleasures and palaces 
Though we may roam, 
Be it ever so humble, 
There’s no place like home.’’ 


Home is more than a boarding-house. Every real 
home is a sanctuary where daily offerings are made, 
where holy ties are cemented, where character is 
formed and where strength is accumulated for 
those wider activities which take us out into the 
world of conflict and trials, and to which we return 
to rest from our weariness and to find a welcome 
which can be found nowhere else. It is a place where 


86 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


neighborhood acquaintances are formed and friends 
are made, and to which one’s dearest friends find 
a warm reception. 


The old residence still stands on Bartmer Avenue 
and though it is occupied by strangers we never 
visit St. Louis without going out to see the dear 
old place, no longer in the suburbs but in the midst 
of the city. 


An incident connected with the purchase of this 
lot may be of interest. One day, when our English 
brother, Timothy Cook, of Southport, England, was 
in this country, and visiting us, I took him out to 
show him our lot. He was pleased with the location, 
but he said, ‘‘ You ought to purchase the other vacant 
lots reaching to the next street.’? I explained that 
I was not financially able to do so. ‘‘But,’’ he said, 
‘‘T will lend you the money, and you can pay me 
when you are able.’’ I accepted this kind offer and 
made the purchase. When I got ready to build, 
these lots had advanced in value so that the increase 
was a great help in building our house. His busi- 
ness sagacity enabled him to see that these lots were 
bound to advance in value with the growth of the 
city. And he had the money, and I did not. Later, 
when I offered to repay him the loan, he said, ‘‘I 
do not wish to receive a cent of that money; just 
turn it over to the Foreign Christian Missionary 
Society !’’ That was eminently characteristic of the 
man—an ideal Christian man, whom I had learned 
to esteem highly, while I was serving the church at 
Southport, England as pastor, for his purity of life, 
his reverence and devotion, and his liberality to all 
worthy causes. 


CHAPTER VII 


A QueEsTION oF LOYALTY 


Ir was not long after resuming my regular work on 
The Christian-Evangelist that I was called on 
to pass through one of the severest trials of my 
life. The Central Christian Church, of which we had 
been members from the beginning, had employed 
as its pastor Brother R. C. Cave, one of our most 
gifted ministers, a man of blameless life. After 
serving very acceptably for a time he began to 
present some doctrines that seemed to us destructive 
of the fundamental things of our common Christian 
faith as well as our own religious plea. At last it 
became evident that something must be done to save 
the Church. It has always been my policy and prin- 
ciple to work in hearty co-operation with the pastor 
of the church with which I was connected. But here 
was a situation that made such co-operation, or 
even an attitude of neutrality, impossible. 

During my absence from the city on a Lord’s Day 
in the latter part of 1889, the church, under the in- 
spiration of the pastor’s preaching and with his ap- 
proval, passed a series of whereases and resolu- 
tions which seemed to many so utterly radical and 
revolutionary, and so destructive of all we have 
stood for as a religious movement as well as of 
faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God, that they 
demanded immediate action. These were published 
in the St. Lows Republic, where I first saw them. 
I immediately called on the pastor for some ex- 
planation and found that he was in perfect sympathy 
with these resolutions. 

87 


88 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


I went to prayer meeting on the following 
Wednesday evening. The pastor led and after a few 
Songs and prayers announced that the remainder of 
the time would be devoted to a business meeting. He 
brought up the resolutions adopted the previous 
Sunday and urged an immediate decision respecting 
them. I begged that a future time be fixed and 
opportunity be given for a better representation. 
It was denied. When they refused to reconsider 
their action I called for letters for myself and family 
and gave my reasons for this course. Bro. Smart, 
my brother-in-law, also did the same for himself 
and wife. After many consultations it was decided 
that although the church had once been denied us 
in which to hold a meeting in order to protest 
against the action of the majority, we would repeat 
our request and invite the whole church. This was 
done. On Christmas morning, I wrote a protest for 
those members of the Central Church who were op- 
posed to the preamble and resolutions, citing the 
objectionable features. 


A special meeting was convened on the following 
Friday evening. It was called to hear and sign a 
protest to the preamble and resolutions recently 
adopted. Bro. F. E. Udell was called to the chair 
and read the protest which cited the points in the 
resolutions, which had been passed, and our reasons 
for objecting. I was asked to explain and defend. 
this protest. On each point against which we pro- 
tested I asked the offending pastor if this were a 
fair expression of his conviction. He answered 
frankly and without any attempt at evasion that it 
was. Meanwhile a petition asking for his resigna- 
tion was being circulated. About 60 had signed this 
petition and protest, when the pastor rose and 


A QUESTION OF LOYALTY 89 


tendered his resignation to take effect then and 
there. The church decided not to act on it till Sun- 
day week. It was a heated meeting but excepting 
one speech it was all parliamentary. 

On the Sunday following the presentation of our 
protest, the brother who had been sent for to preach, 
did not appear, and I was called upon to fill the pul- 
pit and spoke on, ‘‘Earnestly Contending for the 
Faith Once Delivered to the Saints,’’ in which, of 
course, I emphasized the necessity of standing by 
the great fundamental truths of the gospel. Itisa 
strange comment on the peculiar temperament of 
the ex-pastor that he was present and took occasion 
to say that he endorsed the things which I had 
preached! But he began at once holding meetings 
with the disaffected members in a hall in the city in 
an attempt to start a new church. This church ap- 
peared to prosper for a few years but eventually 
disappeared. Those of us who had called for letters 
withdrew our requests, and remained with the 
Central to build up the things that remained. 

About one-third of the members of the Central 
Church, representing about two-thirds of the 
wealth of the church, followed the ex-pastor in his 
new movement. This left the depleted church with 
a mortgage of $16,000 on its property and only about 
enough assets to meet its current expenses. It was 
thought it might be necessary to give up the building 
and make a new beginning. But when the brother- 
hood learned of this situation through the secular 
press and through The Christian-Evangelist, which 
meanwhile contained an open letter to me personally 
from the pastor and my reply to him, they said the 
building must be saved, and churches and _in- 
dividuals began sending in letters of hearty approval 


90 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


and contributions to help us meet the mortgage. 
Most of the contributions were in small amounts, 
only a few $100 donations, but they were general 
throughout the brotherhood, for it was regarded as 
a brotherhood affair. The mortgage was lifted, the 
church was saved, and later, uniting with a sister 
congregation, formed the Union Avenue Christian 
Chureh which has fulfilled and is fulfilling so im- 
portant a mission in the brotherhood. 


While this was a sad experience to me, personally, 
yet the endorsement of my defense of our position 
and of our common Christianity was so universal as 
to demonstrate our essential unity and to result, as 
many believed, in permanent good to our cause. AS 
to the dear brother who had allowed himself, for 
the time, to be carried away by rationalism and a 
certain loose liberalism into this dangerous position, 
but whose sincerity we never doubted, after his re- 
tirement following a ministry of several years with 
the ‘‘non-sectarian church’’ he became identified 
with the Union Avenue church and lived in peaceful 
fellowship with it until he passed on to that just 
Judge who knoweth the heart and whose mercy we 
shall all need when we stand in His presence. 


Soon after this painful episode I attended a dis- 
trict convention of our people at Liberty, Mo., and 
there met and heard a young preacher speak with 
such efficiency and power that, after some inquiries 
concerning him, I asked him if he could go with me 
to St. Louis and take the pastorate of the Central 
Christian Church. It was a critical position for a 
young man to take, but I believed he had the ability 
and spirit to serve the church acceptably. This 


A QUESTION OF LOYALTY 91 


young preacher was Frank G. Tyrrell who served 
the congregation most acceptably for about nine 
years and later, as pastor of the Cabanne Church, 
was one of the pastors interested in bringing about 
the union of the two churches which formed the 
Union Avenue Christian Church. 


CHAPTER VIII 


A Summary OF PRINCIPLES 


I HAVE now reached a point in my life-history which 
will be very difficult for me to write about—the 
things pertaining to my editorial work. The more 
than forty years of my life devoted steadily to the 
editorship of The Christian-Evangelist were by no 
means monotonous, as an editor is compelled to be 
continually facing new issues as they arise in the 
cause he is seeking to serve, and others of less im- 
portance in the routine of daily tasks, but which are 
not of sufficient importance to entitle them to a place 
in history, or even in a biography. And yet, these 
were history-making years for the Disciples of 
Christ. It has been said by others whose friendship, 
perhaps, influenced their judgment, that during this 
period, The Christian-Evangelist was the greatest 
single molding agency, under God, in shaping the 
character and course of our religious movement. 
But the utmost I would claim for it is that the paper 
has always stood steadfastly for those principles 
and policies which the editor believed to be right 
and necessary to our success, regardless of personal 
criticism; and that it has been loyal to the spirit 
and purpose of the Reformation of the nineteenth 
century, and to the teaching of the New Testament 
as we understand it. Furthermore, it is true that 
the Disciples of Christ have developed along lines 
which are in harmony with this teaching. To have 
had some part, however humble, in this growth and 
progress of a great religious movement, is a matter 
for which I am profoundly grateful. That the paper 
under its present able editorship of B. A. Abbott 
92 


A SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES 93 


and his assistant, Barclay Meador, remains true 
to the same ideals which have always characterized 
it, is also reason for sincere gratitude to Him to 
whose cause it has been dedicated. It is this fact 
that justifies me in contributing, still, in a humble 
way, to its usefulness. 


It is not an easy task to sum up the chief things 
for which I have tried to stand during my long 
editorial career, which, counting in my writings as 
editor emeritus, number at this writing, more than 
fifty-five years, forty-three of which I was editor-in- 
chief. From the beginning until now I have had a 
high appreciation of the value and providential 
design of the religious movement inaugurated by the 
Campbells in 1809, as an agency for promoting the 
Kingdom of God, and have tried to present in our 
columns, in a Christian spirit, the principles for 
which I conceived our movement should plead. 
Briefly stated, these principles are as follows: 


(1) The unity of all Christ’s disciples according 
to His prayer (John XVII, 20-21) on the New Testa- 
ment basis of unity, namely: a common name, Dis- 
ciples of Christ or Christians (Acts XI, 26); a 
common creed, or essential article of faith, that 
stated by Simon Peter on which Christ said He 
would build His church—‘‘Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God’’ (Matt. XVI, 15-17) ; faith in 
and obedience to Christ as conditions of admission 
into His church, and the development of Christian 
character (Matt. XIX, 19-20, Acts IT, 37-42); and 
the recognition of the Christian character and work 
of other religious bodies who follow not with us in 
all things, and the cultivation of more amicable rela- 
tions with them, believing that if we have some truth 
which they have not, that would be the best way to 


94 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


impart such truth to them, and that if they have 
some truth which we have not, that would be the 
best way for us to receive it. As the years have 
gone by, it has become more apparent to me that 
the closer we are united with Christ, the closer we 
will be united with each other and that therein is 
the solution of the problem of Christian unity. The 
disposition of some among us to stand aloof from 
other Christians and to think of ourselves as having 
a sort of monopoly of religious truth, I have always 
resisted as un-Christian and contrary to the very 
spirit and intent of our plea for Christian union. 
Some of the fiercest criticisms I have received 
during my editorial career were because of my 
advocacy of federation among Protestant churches, 
or their co-operation in the common tasks of the 
Church. Happily, this is now in the past. 


(2) The necessity of regarding ourselves as only 
learners (disciples) in the school of Christ, who 
have grasped only a few primary truths, while the 
infinite breadth and depth of His teaching is yet to be 
learned, and still more, to be believed and practiced. 
This conception of ourselves and of our mission, 
shared by our leading and representative men from 
the beginning, has prevented us from summing up 
our beliefs or opinions in the form of an authorita- 
tive human creed which must be accepted as a condi- 
tion of entrance into the church. Its creeds have 
proven to be a fruitful cause of division as well as 
a bar to that progress in the knowledge of the truth 
which is the birthright of every child of God. 

(3) In view of the fact that there have been con- 
tentions or strife on questions of minor importance, 
I have felt it wise to advocate the principle: ‘‘In 
faith, unity; in opinions, liberty; in all things, 


A SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES 95 


charity.’’ In other words, our unity must be in our 
faith, not in our opinion, and that faith must be in 
Christ, a Person, not a doctrine, and therefore, a 
faith that involves obedience to His teaching accord- 
ing to our understanding of that teaching. 


(4) Hence, growth in grace and in the knowledge 
of the truth has been urged as an essential condi- 
tion of fulfilling Christ’s will and of our mission. 
Of all species of dwarfs, the religious type are the 
most pitiful, and the pathetic part of it is that they 
are usually unconscious of their diminutive stature. 


(5) Of course, an essential condition of Christian 
growth is the doing of Christ’s work in the world, 
an important part of which is the spreading of His 
gospel to those who know it not, or mission work. 
Hence I have steadfastly advocated the work of 
home and foreign missions as an essential part of 
the great commission and of our own spiritual wel- 
fare, and the co-operation of our churches in this 
work and in the regeneration of society—its in- 
dustry, education, politics and government, by the 
power of the gospel. 

(6) I have endeavored to take a world-view of 
Christ’s religion and of its sublime mission in the 
world as a purifying, spiritualizing, unifying and 
energizing force, making for the exaltation and sal- 
vation of the race. The present demoralized condi- 
tion of the world can only be remedied by a united, 
Spirit-filled and Christ-guided church, bringing all 
those regenerative and redemptive influences to bear 
for the betterment of man, and in that way to secure 
a better society—‘A new earth wherein dwelleth 
righteousness. ”’ 


(7) The Christian-Evangelist through all these 
years, as now, has been a steadfast advocate of 


96 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Prohibition, believing the free use of intoxicants to 
be one of the chief enemies of the individual, the 
home, the society and the government ‘‘of the peo- 
ple, for the people, and by the people.’’ It is a 
feeble or false Christianity that can live on good 
terms with the evils which afflict society. 


(8) I have never been afraid of any harm that 
could befall Christianity by the advance of physical 
and biological science in discovering the secrets of 
nature, or of Biblical scholarship in bringing to us 
new information concerning the nature, structure, 
meaning and history of that wonderful volume. This 
is not saying that the scientists and Bible scholars 
have made no mistakes in their conclusions. They 
are constantly engaged in correcting their own mis- 
takes, when farther investigation makes them ap- 
parent. It is only saying that all truth is one, and 
that the God of nature is the God of the Bible. Our 
finite minds have mastered only a few of the more 
essential facts and truths in these two volumes, and 
we can well afford to be patient with our own 
ignorance, and charitable to those who claim to have 
made greater progress than we have. Personally 
I am deeply thankful to those who have had the 
time, qualifications, and the temper to make re- 
searches in those wide fields of knowledge for which 
I have had neither the time nor the training, but 
of the results of whose painstaking labors I can in a 
measure avail myself. 

(9) In common with all evangelical editors I have 
emphasized the reality of the life beyond death, as 
attested by the Scriptures and as demonstrated by 
Christ’s own death and resurrection from the dead, 
on the third day, as declared by His apostles, and by 
others to whom he appeared after His resurrection, 


A SUMMARY OF PRINCIPLES 97 


including a company of about five hundred brethren 
on a mountain top, most of whom remained alive 
in Paul’s day (1 Cor. XV, 1-6). Concerning the 
nature of that life which is called eternal, much has 
been left to be revealed because we have not yet 
been able to receive it. To me, one of the most 
satisfying views of that life is that it is a state, or 
condition, not only of freedom from sin and its 
consequences, but of eternal progress in the knowl- 
edge and practice of those truths and virtues which 
dignify and glorify humanity. It is not merely the 
fact of Christ’s death, burial and resurrection that 
constitutes the gospel which is ‘‘the power of God 
unto salvation to every one who believeth,’’ but that 
‘*He died for our sins, according to the Scriptures’’ 
(1 Cor. 15:1-6). That is an essential part of that 
gospel which has proved to be such a transforming 
power in the lives of men. I have made no attempt 
to evolve any theory of the atonement, but have 
been content with this statement of Paul and of the 
Scriptures to which he refers as to the significance 
of Christ’s death (Isaiah 53:5-12, Jno. 1:29, Col. 
2:13-14). It is the motive that lies behind the fact 
of Christ’s death—the love of God for mankind— 
that makes the gospel the conquering power that it is 
in the world. Christ’s resurrection follows in- 
evitably His crucifixion and burial, for having sub- 
mitted to the pangs of death, ‘‘it was not possible 
that He should be holden of it’? (Acts 2:24). 

(10) Perhaps the most dominant and constant 
note in all my more than half century of editorial 
work has been the necessity of Christian unity in 
order that all men might believe on Christ accord- 
ing to Christ’s prayer (John 17:9-12). Of course, 
this involved my advocacy of such means of pro- 


9S MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


moting that union and such efforts to remove the 
obstacles to its consummation, as seemed to me to 
be necessary and expedient. It is very gratifying, 
therefore, that in the light of life’s eventide, I am 
able to see the growing sentiment among all Chris- 
tians in favor of such unity. That it will be realized — 
some time, in God’s way, I can not doubt. 

These fundamental truths and such current ques- 
tions as have arisen during this long period of my 
editorial connection with The Christran-Evangelist 
have furnished abundant material for my editorial 
work. 


CHAPTER Ix 


New VENTURES 


I po not know how it may be with others, but it has 
been my experience that long distance direction of 
newspapers is neither satistactory nor profitable. 
Perhaps James Gordon Bennett could direct the 
editorial policy of the New York Herald from Paris, 
and Pulitzer could control his papers from his 
yacht in far corners of the world, but it never 
worked well with me. Two episodes impressed that 
conviction upon me. 

In view of the fact that the Christian Publishing 
Company had become financially stable and The 
Christian-Evangelist widely influential, it seemed 
reasonable to believe that another religious paper 
located at a point sufficiently remote not to 
compete with the paper in St. Louis might be con- 
ducted under the same general editorial auspices 
with such economy and efficiency as to give the 
brotherhood in a distant area a better paper than 
they would otherwise have. Acting upon this be- 
hef, I bought a controlling interest in the Pacific 
Christian, published in San Francisco, and made a 
trip to California in February and March, 1898, to 
reorganize its office force and inaugurate the new 
regime. The experiment was undertaken hopefully, 
but it is sufficient to say here that for various rea- 
sons it did not succeed, and within a few months 
I was glad to sell out again at considerable loss. 
The circumstances of this case, however, seemed 
to me so exceptional that I was not convinced that a 
similar venture could not be carried to a more suc- 
cessful issue in another place, perhaps less remote. 
99 


100 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


In October of the same year I therefore bought from 
F. M. Kirkham a majority of the stock of the Chris- 
tian Oracle, published in Chicago. 


The complete story of this paper would illustrate 
vividly the pitfalls and vicissitudes of journalistic 
finance—as indeed the detailed history of The Chris- 
tian-Evangelist would equally well. The Christian 
Oracle had been founded in Des Moines, Iowa, in 
1884 by D. R. Lucas and Ira W. Anderson, but since 
1886 its chief owner and editor had been F. M. WKirk- 
ham (a brother-in-law of General Drake) except for 
a period during which it had been edited by my 
brother-in-law and former colleague, J. H. Smart. 
In 1890 the paper had been moved to Chicago and 
the company reorganized by the formation of a new 
company in which one of the stockholders was C. C. 
Chapman. The records show that at that time the 
resources of the old company inventoried $11,500, 
but only about $1,000 of this was in tangible assets 
—furniture, type, and a stock of books—the balance 
was in arrears on subscriptions and other accounts 
and the estimated value of the list. There was no 
cash on hand, and the accounts payable were $1,467. 
For these combined resources and liabilities, the new 
company paid $15,000 in its stock. The paper con- 
tinued to perform a worthy service and to enjoy 
varying financial fortunes. The statement for July 
1, 1897 shows a deficit of $1,600 for the preceding 
eleven months. A year later there had been a gain 
of about $1,500 in cash receipts over the previous 
year, so presumably the paper had about paid ex- 
penses. It was three months later that I bought a 
controlling interest in the company. I do not re- 
member exactly what I paid, but it was more than 
it was worth. The business was immediately en- 


NEW VENTURES 101 


larged by the purchase of a book business known as 
the Christian Repository, of Louisville, Ky.,—also 
for more than it was worth. Among the new stock- 
holders who took an interest in the company were 
C. A. Young, E. S. Ames, H. L. Willett, J. J. Haley, 
G. A. Campbell, George Snively, Frank Tyrrell, and 
other well known brethren. The business did not 
prosper. I find it recorded that in August of the 
following year I agreed to advance $1,500 on certain 
notes held by the company, presumably notes that 
had been given for stock, but this only postponed the 
evil day. In December, 1899, I bought back the 
stock that I had sold to others and then turned over 
my entire interest to those who would agree to take 
it and try to continue the paper, and got out with 
what was to me a very heavy loss of about $14,000. 
This was my last adventure in absentee landlordism 
in the newspaper business. From that time to the 
end of my editorial career I concentrated my atten- 
tion on one paper and one company. 


A few weeks before I severed my connection with 
the Christian Oracle the change of name to the 
Christian Century was announced, and the paper 
began publication under that name in January, 1900. 
It was only after struggles extending over the next 
eight years and various re-organizations that the 
paper began to get on its feet. Anyone who thinks 
it is an easy matter to found a religious paper and 
get it on a firm financial footing has only to try it. 
He need not even do that, if he will read the inside 
story of some who have tried it before him. 

One of the institutions among the Disciples of 
Christ that has contributed both to clarity of thought 
on theological, social and ecclesiastical subjects, and 
to that liberty of thought which we have ever claimed 


102 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


as our birthright, is the annual Congress which we 
have held for the free discussion of current topics 
among us for the past quarter of a century. The 
first Congress was held in St. Louis in the latter part 
of April, 1899. I find a report of it and an editorial 
on it in the issue of May 4, 1899. The writer, to- 
gether with a few other brethren, in consultation at 
Macatawa Park, Mich., in August of the previous 
year, thinking one day how we could advance the 
cause we all loved and believing that the interests 
of our cause demanded a fuller and freer discussion 
of current questions to which our missionary con- 
vention could not give adequate time and which 
would not be pertinent thereto, decided to call a 
Congress to meet at the above date and place. I 
was called to act as General Chairman. In the re- 
port of this Congress in the issue of The Christian- 
Evangelist for May 4, 1899, I find this statement: 
‘‘The first Congress of the Disciples of Christ is 
now a matter of history. It transcended the most 
sanguine expectation of its friends, both in numbers 
and in the interest awakened. If any one attending 
its sessions had entertained the idea that the 
propriety or need of such a Congress was doubtful, 
that idea was entirely removed by the close of this 
Congress. So strong was the conviction as to the 
value of such a gathering, that it was unanimously 
voted to hold the next one a year hence, instead of 
two years, as some of us had thought before the 
Congress convened. The session began Tuesday 
afternoon at 2 o’clock. After prayer by J. P. 
Pinkerton of Jefferson City, the Chairman of the 
first session, J. H. Garrison, gave a brief address of 
welcome to the members of the Congress present, 
together with a brief introduction to the first topic 


NEW VENTURES. 103 


to be considered, ‘The History of Doctrine.’ He 
congratulated those present on having attained the 
dignity of members of Congress, referred to the re- 
ligious liberty which had always characterized this 
religious movement making such a congress entirely 
in harmony with its history and spirit, and spoke of 
St. Louis ag a suitable location for our First Con- 
gress, being the center of the nation and of the 
brotherhood.’’ 

The strength of the program and the range of 
topics is indicated by the following list of speakers 
and subjects: Professor E. 8. Ames on ‘‘ The Value 
of Theology.’’ EK. V. Zollars on ‘‘Education.’’ J. 
H. Hardin on ‘‘College Endowment.’’ J. J. Haley 
on ‘‘The Scope and Significance of the Cry, ‘Back 
fOmoOnrist. do A. lord, George FP. Halk halG: 
Tyrrell, G. W. Muckley, B. L. Smith, and B. Q. Den- 
ham on ‘‘ City Evangelization.’’ W. D. MacClintock 
on ‘‘The Value of Literature in the Training of the 
Teacher of Religion.’’ R. T. Mathews on ‘‘ Crucial 
Points Concerning the Holy Spirit.’’ A. B. Philputt 
on ‘‘Church Organization and its Adaptation to the 
Present Needs of the Church.’’ Mrs. Ida Harrison 
on ‘‘The Enrichment of Public Worship Among the 
Disciples.’’ 

The following is the report of the ‘‘Closing 
Words’’ of the Congress: ‘‘The General Chairman 
of the Congress then took charge of the meeting and 
conducted the closing exercises which consisted of 
brief talks by members of the Congress expressing 
their appreciation of what they had seen and heard, 
and Bro. J. B. Briney expressed the feeling of us all, 
perhaps, when he said, ‘Two things have impressed 
me as never before during this Congress, namely: 
the liberty which we have in Christ Jesus, and the 


104 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


unity which underlies all our differences of opinion.’ 
Many brief and happy speeches were made and all 
expressed their delight at having been present at 
this Congress. 

‘‘The General Chairman told of the origin of this 
Congress and expressed his gratification at the 
splendid outcome. It was not in the power of any 
one present, he said, to know the vast influence for 
good which would flow from this Congress. ‘God Be 
with You till We Meet Again,’ was then tenderly 
sung, a closing prayer was offered by the chairman, 
and the First Congress of the Disciples of Christ had 
come to an end.”’ 


This is the editorial estimate of the value of such 
a congress at the close of its report: ‘‘It is scarcely 
too much to say that this Congress marks the begin- 
ning of an era of larger liberty, closer fraternity and 
of a safe and enlightened progress in the history of 
our movement.’’ Speaking now a quarter of a 
century after the foregoing statement was written, 
I still think our Congress has been a strong con- 
tributing factor to whatever safe and sane progress 
we have made. 


The addresses in this Congress so impressed the 
writer with their timeliness, that he edited and pub- 
lished them in a volume entitled, ‘‘Our First Con- 
gress,’’ which is now out of print. The Congress 
has continued to be held annually since 1899, with 
the exception of one year during the war. The 
twenty-fifth anniversary was celebrated in connec- 
tion with the Congress held in Chicago in April, 
1925: 


CHAPTER X 
Epitor AND STOCKHOLDERS IN CONFLICT 


In the year 1899 I had a peculiar and painful ex- 
perience growing out of a difference of opinion as to 
the editorial policy of the paper between the 
majority group of stockholders in the Christian 
Publishing Company and myself. A controlling in- 
terest in the company had fallen into the hands of 
those who were not in sympathy with my editorial 
policy. This came about through the consolidation 
of The Evangelist, of Oskaloosa, Iowa, with The 
Christian. These parties had secured 301 of the 600 
shares which made up the stock of the united com- 
pany. For several years, our relations were suffi- 
ciently harmonious. My relations with Brother B. 
W. Johnson, who had been editor of The Evangelist 
and became co-editor with me of The Christian- 
Evangelist, were never anything but agreeable to 
the day of his death. He was a devout and scholarly 
man and his death was a great loss. 


The years from about 1894 to 1899 saw the begin- 
ning of a consciousness among us of the problems 
raised by the higher criticism. Before that time, 
few of our people had ever heard of it and fewer 
still knew what it meant. My own attitude toward 
these problems is sufficiently indicated by an address 
which forms a subsequent chapter of this book. I 
still think it is a reasonable and defensible position 
which gives ample room both for loyalty to Christ 
and for freedom of scholarship. 

The immediate occasion of the dissatisfaction of 
certain stockholders with my editorial policy seems 
to have been the weekly articles on the Sunday 
school lessons, by Dr. H. L. Willett, and the par- 

105 


106 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


ticular point that was objected to was that he 
assigned the book of Daniel to the Maccabean period, 
thus making it a piece of apocalyptic literature 
referring to past, present and near future events, 
rather than a prophecy dating from the Babylonian 
period. Perhaps it would be difficult to get up so 
much excitement upon that technical point at the 
present time. However, this single item was con- 
sidered only symptomatic of a general liberal at- 
titude toward these questions of Biblical criticism. 
The following letter presents the case as the 
majority stockholders saw it: 


Dear Brother Garrison: Ang. 31, 1899. 


We, the undersigned stockholders of the Christian 
Publishing Company, have for some time regarded 
with solicitude the attitude of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist toward questions which we believe bear a vital 
relation to the success of the cause of Christ. We 
refer especially to the question of what has been 
termed advanced Biblical criticism. While there has 
been a disavowal on the part of The Christran-Evan- 
gelist of any assent to the conclusions which its 
friends are trying to thrust upon us, there is a 
general belief, which we are frank to say we share, 
that the sympathies of its editor are on that side, 
and that the bias of the paper is in that direction. 
As we cannot longer agree with the editorial man- 
agement in the course pursued in this matter, we 
beg leave to submit the following reasons for the 
changes which we propose: 

1. As a matter of personal conviction we object 
to the paper being made the channel for the propa- 
gation of speculations which are at best divisive 
and, as we believe, a hindrance to the cause we love. 
We believe in this we share the views of the great 
majority of our brotherhood. 

2. The present attitude of The Christian-Evangel- 
ist toward the so-called advanced Biblical criticism 


EDITOR AND STOCKHOLDERS IN CONFLICT 107 


puts us in a contradictory light before our patrons, 
since the views expressed in our Sunday School 
literature and those on Sunday School topics in The 
Christian-Evangelist so radically differ. We can- 
not long escape the charge of insincerity should 
these things continue. 

o. We have also noted the voice of the people in 
the continual decrease in the circulation of The 
Christian-Evangelist, in the face of an advance in 
all other departments of our literature. 

For the above reasons we have become fully con- 
vinced that a change should be made in the Chris- 
tian Publishing Company which will bring harmony 
in its counsels and unity in its utterances. Believing 
in your sincerity in the course you have hitherto 
taken, we cannot ask you to compromise yourself 
by a change of policy in the editorial management. 
Believing further, from our point of view, that your 
course, if continued, will work injury to the cause 
of Christ, we cannot conscientiously longer give it 
the support of our financial interests. 

We therefore, herewith, propose, though our hold- 
ings represent the majority of the stock of the Chris- 
tian Publishing Company, to sell our interests to 
yourself or such purchasers as you may select, and 
retire from further connection with the company, 
thus giving you the sole management and undivided 
responsibility for the course of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist. We would name $400.00 per share as a 
reasonable value of Christian Publishing Company 
stock and the price at which we are willing to dis- 
pose of our interests, on terms that may hereafter 
be agreed upon. That the readjustment of the com- 
pany may be made at the beginning of the next 
fiscal year, we desire an answer on or before Sept. 
20, 1899. 

Believing the best interests of all parties con- 
cerned will be served by the above conditions, we 
are, 

Fraternally yours, 
F. M. Call, and others. 


108 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


This did not exactly come out of a clear sky, for 
some months earlier a buy-or-sell proposition had 
been discussed. On Feb. 2 I had made such a 
proposition to Mr. Call, the business manager and 
largest stockholder, having arranged to finance the 
purchase if he chose to sell. On May 27 he decided 
to sell and proposed that I ‘‘pay within ten days 
$10,000 on account, which shall be forfeited in case 
of failure to carry out said proposition.’’ But after 
this delay of nearly four months I was no longer 
in a position to make the purchase. Neither was 
I at the time of this proposition of August 31. 
After some further exchange of correspondence and 
discussion of possible terms, I sent the following 
reply: 


October 6, 1899. 
Messrs. Call, et al., 


Dear Brethren: 


It has been just one month today since I received 
your communication dated Aug. 31, expressing your 
dissatisfaction with my editorial management of 
The Christian-Evangeltst, and proposing to sell me 
your stock in the Christian Publishing Company. 
As less than six months had elapsed since I had 
offered to sell my stock to you or to purchase yours 
at the price mentioned, and I was then urged to 
remain as editor and was given your pledge of sup- 
port in my editorial management, and as there has 
been no change in my editorial policy since that 
time, I am unable to account for this sudden change 
of base. 

I am now unable to buy your stock. Of this fact 
IT had informed Mr. Call before your offer was made. 
I have only delayed answering you to this effect 
until the present because my many brethren urged 
me to do so in the hope that some arrangement 
might be made whereby your stock might be trans- 


EDITOR AND STOCKHOLDERS IN CONFLICT 109 


. ferred into other hands friendly to the present man- 
agement of the paper. But the time has been too 
short to arrange a financial deal of such magnitude. 


There remains therefore but one thing for me to 
do, and that is to offer my stock in the company to 
you at the same price and on the same terms on 
which you offer to sell me yours. The justice of 
this you will no doubt recognize under all the cir- 
cumstances. Besides, it is the logical end to which 
your communication looks, for, believing, as you do, 
that the paper as managed by me is ‘‘a hindrance 
to the cause we love,’’ and that my course ‘‘if con- 
tinued will work injury to the cause of Christ,’’ you 
would seem to be under obligations to buy my stock 
rather than sell yours to me and give me undivided 
control. 


The evil of which you complain can only be rem- 
edied by purchasing my stock, which I now offer 
for sale, and with it, of course, my resignation both 
as editor of The Christian-Evangelist and as presi- 
dent of the company, to take effect when the stock 
is transferred to you. 

I shall not undertake to express my deep regret 
at the necessity which demands this step. I cali God 
to witness how earnestly I have sought to know His 
will and be loyal to it. I call you to witness, my 
brethren, how unsparingly I have given my strength 
and my best ability, not alone as editor of The Chris- 
tian-Evangelist but as author of several books and 
pamphlets for which I have received no compensa- 
tion. J make here no defense of my editorial policy. 
I can leave that to the brotherhood. That I have 
made mistakes in the thirty years and more of my 
editorial work, I doubt not; but that “‘a great 
majority of the brotherhood’’ I have served so many 
years would condemn my editorial policy on the 
ground mentioned in your communication, I refuse 
to believe. 

But I bow to your decision. You have my resigna- 
tion, and you have also my sincere prayers for the 


110 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


success, in the highest sense, of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist to which I have given the best years of my 
hfe. 
Fraternally yours, 
J: H; Garrisom 


Three days later, assuming that the sale of my 
stock was a settled fact, I sent to the entire body of 
stockholders a statement of the negotiations leading 
to my resignation and closing with the following 
statement of my editorial policy: 


‘*T have been aware, of course, that the policy 
of The Christian-Evangelist was not agreeable to 
all its readers, but my experience in the past has 
taught me that the only wise course for an editor to 
pursue is to strive to make his paper right on all 
leading questions and depend upon its readers 
ultimately to approve its course. My aim in the 
past has been to avoid extreme tendencies among 
us, not for mere policy’s sake, but from principle, 
believing that the truth is nearly always found mid- 
way between extremes. It has been my purpose to 
lead our readers to a higher plane of religious living 
and thinking. That it has accomplished this end in 
a measure, is testified by thousands of our readers. 
Another steadfast feature of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist from the very beginning has been the 
championship of the principle of Christian liberty, 
for which it has stood like a rock through all the 
stormy periods of our history. No other paper ever 
published among us has ever given anything like 
the emphasis it has to that vital and fundamental 
feature of our religious movement. This has always 
proved an offense to some, but in the end, wisdom 
is always justified of her children. 

‘In the pursuit of these ideals I no longer have 
the united support of the stockholders, according 
to their testimony, and, as an honest man who values 
truth more than position and freedom of action more 
than material gain, there is nothing left me but to 


EDITOR AND STOCKHOLDERS IN CONFLICT 111 


accept the inevitable and yield my place to another 
who may carry out more fully the ideals of those 
who hold a majority of the stock. In doing so, I 
freely accord to them the liberty I claim for myself, 
and the same honesty of conviction which compels 
the course I have taken. 

‘*And now, ‘with malice toward none, and with 
charity for all,’ I surrender the very solemn and 
important trust which I have sought to discharge 
in the fear of God these many years, with the prayer 
that, in the discharge of your duties as stockholders 
and directors of this company, you may have the 
guidance of Him without whom we can do nothing.’’ 


Your brother and co-laborer, 
J. H. Garrison. 


But the end was not to come so soon. Rumors of 
my proposed retirement had brought many letters 
of protest and assurances of confidence from leading 
brethren. A letter dated Sept. 138, from Brother 
A. M. Atkinson, a loved and trusted friend to whom 
I had written early in September for advice, urged 
me not to buy but to sell to the others if they in- 
sisted on a separation, and to throw my energies 
into the Christian Oracle, of Chicago, of which at 
that time I owned a controlling interest. Bro. Atkin- 
son closed by saying: ‘‘I left Macatawa Park with- 
out saying good-bye, which you will charge to a very 
unpleasant night and great haste in the morning. 
I was quite sick on the way home, and especially 
that night at Benton Harbor. I am feeling better 
now, and in Howard’s absence the last three weeks 
have had much hard work. We move into our new 
home the last of this week. I want to hear from 
you soon and often.’’ Brother Atkinson did indeed 
soon move into his new home. A month later, while 
making a speech on Ministerial Relief at the Cin- 


112 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


cinnati Convention, he was stricken with heart 
failure and died in my arms. 

Just at the time of the Cincinnati Convention, the 
publication of the facts in regard to my resignation 
and the reasons for it, in the St. Lows Republic, 
brought a flood of protests. It began to look as 
though the ‘‘great majority of the brotherhood’’ 
was not so unanimously in favor of my retirement 
as had been supposed. The city editor of the Re- 
public, Holland S. Reavis, a young man and a close 
friend of the family, believing that what the case 
needed was simply publicity, took the responsibility 
of publishing an unauthorized but accurate state- 
ment of the facts and spread the full story over the 
front page of that paper. In this judgment he 
showed a wisdom beyond his years. 

The result was that those who had proposed to 
sell their stock no longer wished to buy mine. After 
a little delay, by going deeply into debt and with the 
co-operation of friends, I bought their stock and 
secured a controlling interest, which I retained until 
the reorganization of the company and its absorp- 
tion into the Christian Board of Publication ten 
years later. The financial burden was heavy and 
my responsibilities were greatly increased, but peace 
reigned and the policy of the paper remained un- 
changed. 


CHAPTER XI 


CoNCERNING FEDERATION 


For some time during the year 1902, or perhaps 
earlier, the matter of church federation was in the 
air and brethren were expressing their opinions pro 
and con. All of us were looking forward to the 
International Convention, which convened that year 
in Omaha, with some apprehension as to what dis- 
position would be made of this matter. Dr. EK. B. 
Sanford, who was the leader in the federation move- 
ment, had been invited to be present and address 
the convention on the subject. It proved to be a 
convention marked by general unanimity of thought 
with few discordant notes. The one exception to 
this rule was the discussion on the subject of federa- 
tion, which occurred on Tuesday evening, and that 
was conducted in a parliamentary way. 

As I had been known to favor federation from the 
beginning, and was one of its earliest advocates, it 
is probable that it was at my suggestion that Dr. 
Sanford was invited to be present at the convention. 
After a very able presentation of ‘‘ Christian Union, 
the Paramount Issue,’’ by E. L. Powell, of Louis- 
ville, Ky., Dr. E. B. Sanford, of New York City, 
secretary of the National Federation of Churches, 
was introduced, and presented very briefly the 
movement he represented. He defined the purpose 
of Church federation as follows: 


‘The movement this federation seeks to aid and 
foster is at its heart a missionary movement, 
spiritual and evangelistic in its spirit and purpose. 
It desires to bring believers of every name who 
recognize their oneness in Christ into such co-opera- 

113 


114 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


tive relations that along lines of practical service 
and counsel they will most effectively advance the 
kingdom of God. This movement contemplates a 
vital linking together of forces that hold to Christ 
as the head; forces that inscribe upon their banners 
these supreme convictions: 

‘‘First. That the gospel affords a remedy for all 
evil; furnishing as it does redemptive power that 
can save both the individual and society. 

‘‘Second.. The Church, of which Christ is the 
Head, composed of those who, in loyalty of purpose, 
trust, love and serve Him, is the chief instru- 
mentality by and through which this gospel is to be 
brought in saving power into the life of men and the 
world. 

‘‘Holding these convictions, federation is the 
recognition on the part of those who enter into it, 
of the essential unity that underlies denominational 
and all other differences.’’ 


Immediately following Dr. Sanford’s statement, 
I offered the following resolution, carefully worded, 
as I supposed, to avoid all difference of opinion or 
any need of discussion: 


‘‘Resolved, That we, representatives of the Dis- 
ciples of Christ, in convention assembled, having 
heard with pleasure the presentation of the claims 
of the Federation of Churches in the United States, 
as urged by the national secretary, Dr. KE. B. San- 
ford, do hereby express our cordial approval of the 
effort to bring the churches of this country into 
closer co-operation and to give truer expression to 
the degree of unity which already exists, as the best 
means of promoting the complete unity for which 
our Lord prayed, and we pledge our hearty co- 
operation with this and every other movement that 
has for its object the unification of believers, to the 
end that the world may be converted and the kine- 
dom of righteousness established in the earth.’? 


CONCERNING FEDERATION ET 


The chairman of the Convention, assuming that 
there would be no discussion on so conservative a 
resolution, put the question at once, and it was 
carried by an overwhelming majority, few, if any, 
voting in the negative. At this point, however, 
Brother J. A. Lord, Editor of the Christian Stand- 
ard, who had been behind the chairman on the plat- 
form and had not been able to secure recognition, 
said that he had hoped for the opportunity of asking 
before the vote was taken whether this resolution 
involved ‘‘the recognition of the denominations.’’ 
In order to give a chance to this brother, and others, 
to state their objections more fully, a motion to 
reconsider was easily carried. It was then explained 
by the author of the resolution, and others, that it 
recognized the fact of denominationalism and looked 
towards the mitigation of its evtl by promoting the 
spirit of co-operation—a necessary step towards 
that unity for which we were pleading; that be- 
cause we could not work together in all things was 
no reason why we should not work together as far 
as it was possible. But this explanation was not 
satisfactory to the objectors and there was a spirited 
opposition on the part of a few who argued that it 
was a compromise of our position. There have al- 
ways been a few among us, and perhaps among 
others, who have regarded the spirit of fraternity 
with other religious bodies as inconsistent with our 
plea for Christian union. These were in evidence 
at the Omaha Convention and they lifted their voices 
against this resolution favoring the federation of 
the churches. 

Nevertheless, at the close of the discussion the 
resolution was again submitted to a vote and ap- 
proved by a very large majority. Those voting in 


116 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


the negative no doubt believed they were more loyal 
to the principles of our movement than those who 
favored it. But as a matter of fact they had never 
caught a true vision of its real spirit, intent and 
scope, as it is understood and presented by our 
representative men. Commenting editorially on this 
action, I said: 


‘‘Tf we believed that all those who voted against 
the resolution were really opposed to what the 
resolution favors,—namely, co-operation with other 
Christian people in all possible ways consistent with 
the utmost loyalty to the truth we hold and to the 
plea for unity which we make,—the outlook would 
be truly discouraging. But we refuse to believe it, 
in spite of the fact that the resolution was so ex- 
plained and can mean nothing more. The people 
who voted nay, voted against something nobody pro- 
posed, being misled by suspicions and misconcep- 
tions. 

‘For some time we have been saying that 
‘Christian union is in the air.’ That is true. That 
is just where it has been, for the most part. 
It is high time we were bringing it down to the 
earth and putting it into practice among ourselves 
and with our religious neighbors. We cannot work 
together along all lines, as yet, because there is not 
sufficient agreement; ‘but whereunto we have al- 
ready attained, let us walk by the same rule; let us 
mind the same things.’ This many of our best 
churches are already doing in the large cities and 
in many of the smaller towns. But so far as we 
know, this is the first resolution ever adopted or 
proposed in one of our national conventions en- 
dorsing a policy which the spirit of God has already 
led many of our preachers to adopt. It is, there- 
fore, an advance step, and marks the deepening con- 
viction among our best minds that unity must come, 
not by debates and strife, but by ‘speaking the truth 
in love,’ and by cultivating the spirit of fraternity 
and co-operation with all who love our Lord Jesus 


CONCERNING FEDERATION 1 hy, 


Christ in sincerity. We can best show our hatred 
of sectarian narrowness by avoiding all manifesta- 
tion of that spirit in our own lives. This is a rising 
and not a setting sun among us. No hand can stay 
its progress towards the zenith of its influence, as 
a mighty power working for a united Christendom. 

‘‘The Omaha convention is now history. It has 
made its contribution to our progress, and has dis- 
solved back into the great brotherhood from which 
it came. Its influences, which are far reaching, will 
abide. Many will think differently, fecl differently 
and act differently, about the cause we plead, be- 
cause of this convention. Many lives will be newly 
molded by it. Many who have been nominal mem- 
bers, have gone home with higher ideals of Christian 
life, and with nobler purposes to make their lives 
more useful. All of us, let us hope, have been 
strengthened in faith, quickened in zeal, enlightened 
in our understanding of the needs of this world, and 
so better equipped to serve our Master and our 
race.’’ 


While the resolution favoring federation had been 
passed by the Convention by an overwhelming 
majority, the question was by no means settled but 
only raised. A running fire of newspaper con- 
troversy was continued intermittently through four 
or five years following, and there was much per- 
sistent misstatement of the purposes and implica- 
tions of the federation movement. The Christian- 
Evangelist temporarily lost a good many subscribers 
by reason of this erroneous statement of the issues, 
but these were gradually gained back as truth gradu- 
ally emerged from the errors with which it had been 
beclouded. Meanwhile, however, we gained some 
enemies among brethren whom we would gladly 
have had for friends. 

By 1906 the heat had largely gone out of the dis- 
cussion about federation. Argument had not led to 


118 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


unanimity, but all possible varieties of opinion had 
found expression, the brethren had found relief by 
putting their loyalty on record, some alignments had 
been made, and we were going about our Father’s 
business. The following extracts from personal 
letters which I wrote to my son indicate my own 
feeling about the progress of the light: 


June 3, 1906. 

I have begun breaking new ground within the last 
few months in respect to our relation to other re- 
ligious bodies, and, as I fully expected, it has drawn 
the fire of a certain class of our scribes and 
pharisees. But it seemed to me that the time had 
arrived for the issue to be fought out. Bro. W. T. 
Moore took up the cudgel for me in the____________ 
ay a and has been quoting Thomas and Alexander 
Campbell in a way to nonplus that journal. On the 
whole, the fight seems to be fairly won for the larger 
view, both as respects federation and the underlying 
question as to whether we are Jt or only a part of it. 


June 10, 1906. 

Yes, I think the federation question is about over, 
with a few stray shots here and there. I am, how- 
ever, about to treat it in a historical way in my 
serial. No discussion among us has ever separated 
our people into two classes so distinctly—the in- 
telligent leaders and better class of laymen on one 
side, and (others) on the other. 


Sept. 23, 1906. 


In our church circles, things seem to be quieting 
after the storm. The Buffalo Convention is likely 
to be well attended. What action will be taken, if 
any, re federation, will be determined by consulta- 
tion after we arrive on the ground. No doubt we 
eould endorse it by a majority vote, but whether 
this would be worth while with a large minority 
against it, is the question, if there is probability that 
objections may be removed. : 


CONCERNING FEDERATION 119 


This is all now ancient history. It is gratifying 
to add that at the present writing (1926), though 
there may not be unanimous agreement as to the 
wisdom of every action which has been taken grow- 
ing out of our relations with other religious bodies 
through the Federal Council of Churches, which 
succeeded the National Federation of Churches in 
1908, there is no discussion of the principle involved 
and no denial of the right and need of the churches 
to federate. 


CHAPTER XII 


INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 


Wuite the Centennial Convention at Pittsburgh in 
1909 was a milestone of progress for the Disciples 
of Christ, and in some respects marked the begin- 
ning of a new period in their history, the years 
immediately preceding it were marked and marred 
by some controversies which we would be glad to 
forget. But they are history, and it is dangerous 
to forget history. The federation question had been 
fairly thought through to a decision by 1907, though 
there were still some lingering differences of opinion 
and some discussions of it in the papers and con- 
ventions. The resolution favoring federation was 
passed at Norfolk—not in a regular session of the 
convention but at a specially called meeting at the 
close of a convention session—after only one voice 
had been raised in opposition, and with but few 
negative votes. Other questions which agitated the 
brotherhood at this time had to do with ‘‘tainted 
money,’’ suggested by a gift of twenty-five thousand 
dollars by Mr. Rockefeller to the Foreign Christian 
Missionary Society, and an attack upon the Foreign 
Society and especially its president, Brother <A. 
McLean, by one of our papers on the charge of 
‘‘unsoundness.’’ On these topics there was acrimo- 
nious controversy extending over many months— 
if a controversy can be called acrimonious when the 
acrimony was chiefly confined to one side. I think 
it is not unjust to say that this was the case. At 
any rate, the judgment can be easily checked up by 
reference to files of our leading papers during that 
120 


INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 121 


period. At the same time the preliminary steps 
were being taken which issued in the formation of a 
brotherhood publication society, but of this I will 
speak in the following chapter. Furthermore, there 
were controversies between the business manage- 
ment and the editorial office of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist, not unlike that which had led to my purchase 
of the controlling interest in the company eight or 
nine years earlier. 

In recording the events and issues of these years, 
I must lean heavily upon the letters which I wrote 
at the time to my son. These, naturally, were per- 
fectly frank and intimate statements of my own atti- 
tude and my understanding of the situation. If it 
looked different to others, I can only say that this 
is the way it looked to me. The following letter was 
written just before the Norfolk Convention: 


sept. 29, L907. 

We are having exciting times now over the____- s 
attack on McLean, and McLean’s crushing replies. 
It has come to a life-and-death struggle between the 
sda Sid and McLean, and the brethren are raliying 
to McLean. They are talking now of establishing 
a new publication society to publish a paper, books, 
etc., for the general interests of our cause, provided 
we, the Christian Publishing Co., agree to the 
scheme and sell out at a reasonable price, which 
we are willing to do provided the brethren agree to 
go into the scheme. They want nothing to do with 
the Seeman ,—all our missionary and general organ- 
izations and their officials. They have broken with 
it for good. We are facing a new situation. The 
COUTSelOn the wes 2) has become intolerable. The 
Cincinnati preachers last Monday passed resolutions 
condemning its course and expressing confidence in 
McLean. Things will be doing at the Norfolk Con- 
vention: Federation—new Publication Society— 
‘‘Tainted Money’’—McLean vs. ~------- »—all will 


12? MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


pass in review. Don’t you wish you could be there? 
We will make history. Besides all that, I am going 
to say a few things in my Disciples’ Day Address, 
which has not yet been begun. 


The Convention came and went, and its decisions 
were in the main, as I have indicated, favorable to 
those who stood for liberty, loyalty, and progress. 


A little later there arose again, as in 1899, an in- 
ternal controversy within the company about a 
matter of Biblical interpretation, and, as in the 
former case, it grew out of the articles on the Sun- 
day school lessons in The Christian-Evangelist, 
which were now being written by W. E. Garrison. 
In 1899 the sensitive point was the date of Daniel. 
In 1908 it was Saul and the Amalekites. 


July 23, 1908. 


Yesterday I had a communication from Bro. 
Pittman (business manager of the Christian Pub. 
Co.) rather dictating an editorial course for The 
Christian-Evangelist on more conservative lines, 
which I have replied to today in a letter which will, 
no doubt, result in his resignation or mine. I made 
it clear to him that the editorial department is not 
subject to the business management, nor indeed can 
be. He enclosed also, in a separate letter, a criticism 
on your Sunday school article, which I will enclose. 


As there is some prospect of the Committee of | 
Twenty-five agreeing to a plan for a publication so- 
ciety, which is to be practically a private corporation 
to buy up and control such of our journals as will 
accept the appraised value of their stock, I have 
advised that this crisis between the editorial and 
business managements be postponed until autumn. 
The parting of the ways will have to come soon, 
either by merging into a larger company, or a re- 
organization of our own. I have written to Bro. 
Clarkson that if he and the other directors agree 


INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 123 


with Bro. Pittman’s letter they should prepare to 
take my stock and relieve me of editorial responsi- 
bility. 

July 26, 1908. 

I judge you gave him about the right answer, for 
surely it is a new departure in our company for the 
business manager to give orders to the editorial 
department. Of course it is intolerable. I will have 
none of it. In his letter today he suggests the possi- 
bility of my retiring from the active control of the 
paper, and allowing them to get an editor who 
would change the policy of the paper so as to make 
it unobjectionable to conservatives! That is of a 
piece with his suggestion in his former letter that, 
while my position was no doubt true, yet I ought 
to be willing to hold these truths in abeyance and 
advocate things that are more popular so that we 
may make some money. Well, we shall soon see 
what’s what. Things will take shape rapidly now. 
I have advised holding things in statu quo until 
autumn to see what the Committee of Twenty-five 
will do. But they may want to take more speedy 
action, and if so, I will have to meet it. Of course 
if the policy of the paper is to be changed, my con- 
nection with it would have to cease entirely. But 
ought I to part with my interest to men whose de- 
clared purpose is to change its policy? Not, I think, 
until I have exhausted every effort to have the paper 
continued on its present lines. If we have no men 
of means who will invest in the stock of the company 
for the sake of holding it to its present position, 
it would seem that I had labored largely in vain. 
IT cannot believe that. To find such men is now my 
problem. That is exactly what I think the Commit- 
tee of Twenty-five ought to accomplish. 


August 1, 1908. 
Your last favor enclosing Bro. Pittman’s second 
letter to you and carbon copy of your reply, has been 
received. I wish to say, first of all, that your replies 
meet with my hearty endorsement, in both spirit 
and matter. While it is possible that your refer- 


124 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


ence to the destruction of the Amalekites might have 
been couched in language that would have avoided 
criticism, I believe the truth is substantially as you 
have stated. But you have certainly spiked his guns 
on the matter of his partisan correction of your non- 
partisan paragraph on the Denver Convention (in 
Current Events). I had already written him that 
you were right concerning the course of the paper 
in the past as to politics, and that you were decidedly 
right also in saying that The Christian-Evangelist 
had never been edited from the business office. I 
learned from Bro. Clarkson that Bro. P. wanted to 
pass a resolution at the July meeting of the Board 
defining the attitude of The Christian-Evangelist— 
and that in the absence of the editor and chief owner 
of the stock of the company! Clarkson wrote me 
that he would not stand for any such thing, and the 
resolution was not passed. Dowling also writes that 
he opposed it. 


Just at this time, W. EK. Garrison became Presi- 
dent of the New Mexico College of Agriculture and 
Mechanic Arts and resigned his position on the 
editorial staff of the paper. That closed the incident 
of the Amalekites and relieved the tension momen- 
tarily, though of course the essential differences 
persisted. 


Aug. 23, 19083 


Bro. Pittman has written that, in view of my state- 
ment of what The Christian-Evangelist stands for 
and must stand for under my administration, he is 
convinced that the difference between us is very 
broad, and that I may consider that his resignation 
is in my hands to take effect when he gets a check 
for $14,000 for his stock. I have written him that 
I am sorry my statement of principles and aims does 
not commend itself to him, but that since it does 
not I think he is right in seeking to separate himself 
from the company, and that as soon as we find 
whether the proposed Publication Society will ab- 


INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 125 


sorb our plant, we will, in case it does not, adjust 
our business accordingly. We now have the prob- 
lem of selecting a successor for him. He would not 
consent for a moment, he said, that I should go and 
he remain. I hope the Committee of Twenty-five 
will do something to relieve the situation. 


A severe illness of several weeks duration in 
September and October, 1908, doubtless strength- 
ened my desire to be released from some of my 
editorial and financial burdens. 


Noy. 1, 1908. 


I owe altogether too much, and my purpose is to 
sell a controlling interest in the company to some- 
body who would lke to be my successor, if possible, 
but at least enough of my stock to meet my indebted- 
ness. J have written Bro. Smither, of Los Angeles, 
about the matter. He has money, ability, and edi- 
torial ambition. I have offered to sell him 350 
shares, thinking you and one or two others would 
lke to have me include your stock in the deal. 


Two or three weeks later Bro. Pittman made me 
an offer of $70,000 cash for 350 shares of stock. The 
price was below the actual value, but the proposition 
was a tempting one to a man heavily in debt. But 
I did not feel that I could accept it. 


Nov. 29, 1908. 


But who are his backers? He will not tell. 
I have pretty strong reasons for believing it is the 
— Publishing Company. Of course I told him I 
could not sion without the consent of the direc- 
tors and leading stockholders. Nor could I agree 
to sell without knowing who was buying or how the 
paper would be run. I showed the document to 
Scott and Clarkson today, and they were amazed 
at its audacity, but thought it was too good a thing 
for me to refuse. But I pointed out to them why 
I could not honorably turn the paper into hands that 


126 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


would almost surely reverse its attitude and spirit. 
Meanwhile I have heard from Smither, but I hardly 
think we will trade. He wants me to take more real 
estate than I care to load up with. He wanted me 
to go out to California, and promised to pay half my 
expenses for the trip, but I could not go now. 

The further story belongs to the history of the 
organization of the Christian Board of Publication. 
I should add that, with the exception of the incidents 
mentioned above, my relations with Brother Pitt- 
man were always agreeable. He was a man of fine 
spirit and great unselfishness and devotion to the 
cause, aS was amply proved by his many years of 
unpaid service for the Second Christian Church in 
St. Louis. While our ideas about the conduct of a 
paper were not in entire accord, his character and 
loyalty were above criticism. 

Meanwhile preparations were being made for the 
Centennial Convention, which was still a year ahead 
and a special centennial committee had been ap- 
pointed, of which I was chairman. Professor H. L. 
Willett and Brother Perry J. Rice had been invited 
to occupy positions on the program, and the pre- 
liminary announcement of the program with their 
names had drawn the criticism of the ultra-conserv- 
atives. Threats were made of boycotting the mis- 
sionary societies, and some church boards passed 
resolutions declaring that they would take no more 
offerings for either the home or the foreign society 
until they were assured that neither Willett nor 
Rice was to be on the convention program. Of 
course I stood against this spirit of proscription. 


Oct.. 25, 1908; 
Our Centennial Committee has voted not to force 
Prof. Willett off the program. He had not declined, 
as reported, but wanted the Committee to act. We 


INTERNAL CONTROVERSY 127 


have acted. Of course the ~.------ will make war 
to the knife on the Committee, but it does not make 
much difference what it says now. I am saying 
some thing's in this coming issue which will tend to 
bring things to a head. We cannot serve God and 
Mammon. 


Nov. 1, 1908. 


You will be surprised to learn that I had an all- 
day visit from Brother Lord (editor of the Chris- 
tian Standard) yesterday. They had requested us 
to withhold report of the Centennial Committee’s 
action refusing to force Willett off the centennial 
program, one week, and asked conference. Pittman 
went over at our board’s request to see what they 
wanted and if it related to editorial policy to ask 
one of them to come and see me. They sent Lord. 
They agreed to stop their war against Willett and 
the missionary societies and the Centennial if Willett 
would voluntarily resign his place on the program. 
I had joined with McLean in suggesting this course 
to Willett, for the sake of peace, now that the Com- 
mittee had voted to retain him. In a letter received 
while Lord was here, he agreed to do so provided 
it would stop the war against the missionary socie- 
ties and would not sacrifice Rice, who was also con- 
demned by the super-sound. I got Lord to sign a 
statement in which he pledged the Standard to stop 
its opposition to Rice and the missionary work. I 
have notified Willett of this action and await his 
decision. Lord wants me now to open a correspond- 
ence looking to greater unity between the papers, 
and made an apology for not having replied to my 
letter on that subject over two years ago. 


During the latter months of 1908, the columns of 
The Christian-Evangelist were filled with discus- 
sions of this question of liberty and loyalty, including 
an extensive symposium on the distinction between 
faith and opinion. Dozens of our leading thinkers 
and best known brethren went on record as holding 


128 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


that loyalty to the gospel and to our essential plea 
left Biblical scholarship free to pursue its critical 
investigations, that neither the Bible nor the faith 
had anything to fear from the most searching in- 
quiries, and that it was not a matter of prime im- 
portance that we should reach unanimous agree- 
ment upon all matters of Old Testament and New 
Testament criticism. Willett and Rice both ap- 
peared on the Centennial program. The published 
report of the Convention, which was printed by the 
Standard Publishing Company, carries a prefatory 
‘‘oublisher’s note’’ in which the publishers renew 
their protest against the ‘‘recognition of men who 
are notorious for public utterances that conflict with 
the plain teaching of the Scriptures.’’ But ‘‘God 
lives and the government at Washington still 
stands’’ and the Restoration Movement continues 
to flourish in spite of these eddies in its onward 
current. 


CHAPTER XIII 


Re-OrGANIZATION—-THE CHRISTIAN BOARD OF 
PUBLICATION 
I wave already mentioned the beginning of the plan 
for the establishment of a publication society owned 
and controlled by the brotherhood. At the Norfolk 
Convention in 1907, a committee of twenty-five rep- 
resentative brethren was appointed to consider the 
desirability and feasibility of such a project. There 
had been so much controversy between our privately 
owned papers, and at least one of them had taken 
such a critical, and at times hostile, attitude toward 
our missionary agencies and had so willingly made 
itself the vehicle for attacks upon them, that it was 
conceived that there would be a gain in peace and 
unity if our more important publishing interests 
could be consolidated under an organization in 
which the profit motive could not enter into the de- 
termination of their policies. On the other hand, 
there were those who thought that it would be better 
to make one publishing house a brotherhood-owned 
concern and let the others take their own course. 
Some declared that they would have nothing to do 
with the company which had been hostile to the so- 
cieties. Others were evidently puzzled when it be- 
came apparent that it would have nothing to do 
with them. So no immediate steps were taken by 
the committee. In a private letter, dated April 5, 
1908, I wrote: ‘*‘There was but little progress made, 
I think, by the Committee of Twenty-five. The 
Standard has refused to have anything to do with 
the committee, and I think that puzzles them, as any 
action they might take would be opposed by that 
129 


130 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


paper, and the wedge of division driven deeper in.’’ 
A few weeks later, I sketched the plan in the follow- 
ing letter: | 


April 26, 1908. 

I do not yet know what the Committee of Twenty- 
five will do, but, I fear, nothing. When Bro. Med- 
bury was here I talked with him about the matter 
and he claimed to see a great light. I hope he will 
make his committee see it. It was the idea of form- 
ing a Christian Publication Society, as we now have 
missionary societies. Let the shares of stock be 
small enough to enlist a large number of members 
in all parts of the brotherhood. It could have an 
annual meeting at the time of our national conven- 
tion for the purpose of electing its board of direc- 
tors, and these, the editors. It could absorb existing 
publishing companies as fast as they are willing to 
be absorbed. Our two leading companies, however, 
should agree beforehand to go into it. At any rate, 
it cannot be long before I must either lay down my 
pen, or cut off a large part of the burden of respon- 
sibility I am now carrying. 

The matter drifted along durimg that year, and 
nothing decisive was done at the New Orleans Con- 
vention. Late in October, 1908, I made overtures 
to Bro. A. C. Smither of Los Angeles, in regard to 
his taking my stock and my editorial place, and it 
was in the following month that Bro. Pittman’s 
cash offer was made. The first of these proposed 
deals I did not immediately follow up and the second 
I refused, for reasons already stated. 

Meanwhile it wags becoming apparent that what 
the Committee of Twenty-five would do depended 
chiefly upon what Mr. R. A. Long would do, or else 
that his action would make that of the committee 
unnecessary. Without waiting for action by the 
committee, Mr. Long began to take steps toward 


RE-ORGANIZATION 131 


acquiring some stock in our company. His motive 
is clear in the light of subsequent events. Mr. Long 
evidently believed—and correctly, as the event 
proved—that the committee would not be able to 
effect the unification of all our publishing interests 
on a basis which would eliminate private control and 
private profit, and he therefore turned to the idea of 
making one company a brotherhood publishing 
house. In January, 1909, he had agreed, subject to 
some conditions, to take fifty shares of stock in the 
Christian Publishing Company and to become a di- 
rector and was trying to get others to take one 
hundred shares. But the others did not come in 
very promptly and so the transaction hung fire. Mr. 
Smither was still willing to buy stock in the com- 
pany if he could get a controlling interest. He 
called to see me on his way to the Pittsburgh con- 
vention in October, 1909, and proposed to take 
twenty per cent of my stock each year until he had 
taken it all, at $225 a share. At Pittsburgh Mr. 
Long asked me to submit to him a proposition along 
the same lines, but a few days later, on October 27, 
he proposed to purchase my entire stock at once and 
enough more to make four hundred shares. His 
plan at that time was to put the company in the 
hands of the Brotherhood Movement, giving it all 
profits above six per cent for ten years and then 
turning the business over to it as a gift. 

From that date until the completion of the trans- 
action and the inauguration of the business on the 
new basis, events moved more rapidly. Mr. Long’s 
purchase ultimately included all the stock of the 
company, the Brotherhood Movement, the future of 
which seemed uncertain, was eliminated, and the 
control was placed in the hands of a board of trus- 


132 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


tees. The following letter which I wrote to my son 
on Dec. 5, 1909, gives the essential facts: 


I was over in Kansas City Friday of this week. 
There were about fifteen of our representative 
brethren present. Scott, Clarkson and I first ar- 
ranged the details of our trade with Long, and then 
we convened in his directors’ room and he made 
his proposition to turn over the 450 shares of Chris- 
tian Publishing Company stock which he had pur- 
chased to the brotherhcod, he to receive four per 
cent on his investment for five years, and at the end 
of that time he releases all his interest and it is to be 
the property of the brotherhood. He requested that 
directors be appointed then and there to manage 
same. These were nominated, to be duly elected at 
our annual election. We also selected W. R. Warren 
to be General Manager. I was asked to remain as 
Editor-in-chief. The terms are $215 a share, with 
twenty per cent in cash and the balance in five an- 
nual installments. Of course it is a great relief to 
me to feel that the continuance of the paper under 
proper control is now assured. 


Thus the negotiations which had covered more 
than two years, counting from the appointment of 
the Committee of Twenty-five, came to an issue 
which I believed then and still believe promises good 
results for our cause. For me it meant relief from a 
heavy burden of financial responsibility which I had 
borne for many years and the opening of a way to 
retirement within a few years from the complete 
editorial responsibility which I felt was now too 
heavy a load for my strength. Perhaps it was the 
result both of nervous exhaustion and of this sudden 
relief from a long strain that a week later I suffered 
a severe attack which for a time apparently threat- 
ened to be the end. On Dec. 15, I was able to write: 


RE-ORGANIZATION 133 


Your telegram came today and I have just an- 
swered it. I will, however, write you a brief letter 
with my own hand that you may know I am con- 
valescing. I have had my stenographer, dictating 
an editorial and some letters. The doctor advises 
me to remain in a few days. I do not yet quite 
understand what befell me last Friday night, though 
the three doctors seem to have had all they could do 
to restore consciousness and keep me going. There 
seems to have been a partial failure of the heart and 
the vital powers. I accept it as a reminder that I 
must slow up. It is a piece of great good fortune 
that I have closed the deal with Mr. Long and have 
all the papers in legal shape. I am now in a posi- 
tion to cut down my work, and must do so, par- 
ticularly the public calls to which I have been re- 
sponding. My nervous system is much run down. 

The proposed trip to Palestine and Egypt, for 
which arrangements had already been made and 
which was to have begun in February, was aban- 
doned in obedience to the doctors’ orders, and a 
short trip to Europe, including the Edinburgh Con- 
ference, was taken in June and July, 1910. An ac- 
count of this will be given in a later chapter. 

Meanwhile, however, the company was to be 
launched with its new organization. This was done 
at the annual stockholders’ meeting, Jan. 4, 1910, at 
which time the directors named in Kansas City were 
formally elected. It was decided that Brother 
Warren should be Managing Editor as well as Gen- 
eral Manager. The directors were careful to inquire 
whether this would be in harmony with my desires, 
—to part with that much of my previous authority. 
I told them that was exactly my desire. I would 
claim the right of determining the attitude of the 
paper on questions of importance while it carried 
my name as editor, but I would be glad to counsel 
with all of them on any matter of moment. 


134 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


It would be too much to say that during the fol- 
lowing two years there were no divergences of 
Opinion in regard to matters of editorial policy or 
that there was no internal friction in the adjustment 
of the functions of those who shared the direction of 
the enterprise. The situation was a new one to all 
the parties concerned and we had to learn by ex- 
perience and experiment. I had an impression that, 
in view of the fact that my complete retirement from 
editorial responsibility must come very soon, some 
were perhaps impatient for the readjustment which 
that would involve and that I might appear in their 
eyes to be ‘‘lingering superfluous on the stage’’ 
after my part had been played. However, when 
the matter came to an issue there was strong in- 
sistence that I continue as editor. On Oct. 19, 1910, 
I wrote: 


We had a quite full meeting of the directors of 
our company (at Topeka), and a free discussion as 
to what the policy of the paper ought to be. This 
I myself introduced by stating two possible ideals 
that the company might adopt, and indicating which 
one I approved, and with which alone I would be 
content to remain on the paper. Let it suffice here 
to say that the general consensus of opinion was in 
entire harmony with what I outlined, and nearly all 
the changes which I have urged were recommended 
independent of any suggestion from me at the meet- 
ing. Under these conditions, it would seem that 
my duty is to remain for the present at least with 
the paper. Indeed, Bro. Long was exceedingly 
emphatic in his wish that I should remain, and said 
he would regard my leaving the paper as an event 
not to be thought of seriously for a moment. I feel 
that we all owe Bro. Long a debt of gratitude for 
his liberality, and if I can remain with a proper 
sense of self-respect and conscientiously perform 
my duty as Editor, I shall be glad to do so. 


RE-ORGANIZATION hee 


It was, however, only a month later that I received 
an intimation that, among other measures of 
economy proposed in view of the mounting expenses 
of the company, was a reduction of my salary by 
one-third, with a corresponding reduction of my 
work. This rumor proved premature but it gave 
me some hours of somber meditation. However 
gladly one would rest, it is not so easy to let go. The 
following letters reflect the darker mood, as well 
as my recovery from it and my own view of the 
proper solution of the problem. 


Nov. 13, 1910. 

If my brethren feel that my mental powers are 
failing sufficiently to justify them in taking this 
action, I perhaps ought to accept the situation either 
by severing my relation with the paper entirely or 
partially as the finance committee has suggested. 
Sooner or later every man has to face the stern fact 
that he ean no longer do his work as satisfactorily 
as he once did, and that in the judgment of his 
brethren he ought to give place to a younger man. 
I am realizing that it requires extra grace to face 
this situation without great depression of spirit. 
I am now struggling under the burden of trying to 
determine where the line of duty is midway between 
the sacrifice of proper self-respect and the defense 
of my personal rights on the one hand, and a 
captious resistance to the inevitable on the other. 
I had about made up my mind that when I reached 
the age of seventy, which is only a little more than 
a year away, I would ask to be relieved of part of 
my work and write as I might feel like it. Perhaps 
the Board would grant me this were I to suggest 
it. These are days when I feel the need of you to 
counsel with and comfort me, for I confess to a 
severe battle with myself. I am praying for proper 
humility. I do not want to over-estimate my help to 
the paper, nor my past work. The fact is, I take a 


136 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


very humble view of both, and if my public service 
should be ended as editor, I hope I shall have the 
grace to yield my place to another. 


Nove 20 oe. 

I am afraid my last letter wore more of an autumn 
tint than my letters ordinarily do, and more than 
I intend them to wear. My melancholy, if there was 
that in it, was superinduced by two causes: first, I 
had not been feeling well for a week; and second, 
I had just received intimation that I might be 
partially retired for next year on the paper and felt 
considerable depression from the realization that 
the time which every man fears had come to me, at 
least in the judgment of some. I am glad to report 
myself much improved in health, and completely 
recovered from any dread of the inevitable retire- 
ment, whether it comes now or later. I knew I had 
no right to be depressed on that score, and I took 
myself in hand and subjected this ego to a pretty 
stiff self-examination, with the result that while I 
feel capable of doing some good work yet for a few 
years, I cannot afford to put my judgment against 
that of my brethren on that point if it turns out that’ 
they so feel—I mean the whole Board of Directors. 
So I am perfectly content to retire either in whole 
or in part, as they may elect. I have heard so many 
old men out of a job declare that they cou!d ‘‘ preach 
as well as they ever did’’ that I am trying to avoid 
that mistake. My own judgment would be that a 
good strong man should be put on the paper as 
editor one year with me and after that retire me, 
or rather let me retire of my own choice to some 
such position as Lyman Abbott sustains to the Out- 
look, that is, writing as I feel like it on such pay as 
they may wish to give. 


This view prevailed and committee was appointed 
to select an editor to assist and later to succeed me. 


In March, 1911, I wrote that the committee was turn- 
ing to B. A. Abbott, and added: ‘‘I feel that this 


RE-ORGANIZATION Loe 


would be a very happy solution of the matter. I 
would feel it a delight to work with a man of 
Abbott’s spirit and to have him take my place when 
I lay down my pen.’’ While there was some further 
delay in the consummation of this plan, I may here 
confirm the opinion expressed above and record my 
satisfaction that my work has been continued as he 
has continued it. 


My partial retirement being now agreed upon it 
remained only to determine such details as my duties 
and salary. 


Sept. 20, 1911. 


The one thing that is sure to happen, and which 
I have demanded, is the cutting out of my burden 
of responsible editorship of the paper, and to re- 
main, if [ remain at all, as simply an editorial writer. 
That such a change should be accompanied with a 
corresponding cutting down of my salary is natural, 
and I should not complain at such reduction. But 
if the sum were too frivolous, I should prefer entire 
freedom, with the opportunity which such freedom 
would give, to engage in anything else which might 
offer itself to me. 


Oct. 14, 1911. 


Yesterday we had our board meeting, and when 
we were through with the financial report and the 
matter of the new adjustment of our editorial forces 
came up, I asked and was granted leave to speak 
and presented my resignaticn to take effect on my 
seventieth birthday. I left the room after present- 
ing my resignation, but I learned from others that 
there were many eulogistic speeches in reference to 
my editorial work, which I am glad I did not have 
to hear. They voted to accept my resignation, but 
acecmpanied it with the request that I should retain 
my connection with the paper, to write when and 
where, as much or little, as I pleased, at a salary of 
$1500 from and after Feb. 1 next. * * * Bro. Smither 


138 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


has entered upon his work with a good deal of tact 
and wisdom, and I think will be popular with the 
employes. I have arranged to have a desk delivered 
at my residence on Monday, and will aim to do most 
of my work hereafter out there, where I will have 
less interruption and more opportunity for reading 
and study. 

I have been suffering from intercostal neuralgia 
since my return from Lexington. There was a large 
attendance, of course, at the funeral, for Brother 
McGarvey was greatly beloved by those who knew 
him best, for the purity of his life and his kindness 
and gentleness of heart in spite of the severity of 
some of his criticisms. He was in his eighty-third 
year. It cannot be long until some of the others of 
us will follow, and I trust we may go with the same 
faith and trust in God which he had. 


On Feb. 2, 1912, my seventieth birthday, my 
resignation took effect and, in accordance with the 
action of the Board, I became Editor Emeritus. 


CHAPTER XIV 
RETIREMENT F’Rom Active [ipIToRSHIP 


Wirsx the approach of my seventieth birthday, the 
time at which one may with some reason expect to 
lay down the burden of the active management of 
a large and important enterprise, the question of the 
future of The Christian-Evangelist and the Chris- 
tian Publishing Company had been a matter of in- 
creasing concern to me. Overtures had been made 
to me from more than one quarter for the purchase 
of my stock in the company, with which went the 
control of the paper and the business. One of these 
offers had led to negotiations which had progressed 
almost to the point of an agreement upon terms 
which would have been entirely satisfactory to me 
—and, as it later turned out, would have been ex- 
ceedingly profitable, since the purchaser proposed 
to turn over Los Angeles real estate which has since 
vastly increased in value—when the plan of estab- 
lishing a brotherhood publication house was sug- 
gested. That devoted and far-seeing Christian man, 
R,. A. Long, of Kansas City, Mo., proposed to pur- 
chase, and eventually did purchase the entire stock 
of the Christian Publishing Company, and reor- 
ganized it as a corporation not for profit under the 
management of a Board of Directors. In addition 
to the munificent sum which he paid for the prop- 
erty, Mr. Long generously gave, and is still giving, 
of his time and remarkable business ability for the 
oversight of the business, serving as president of 
the Board of Directors. 

By this change in control, the organization of the 
business became similar to that under which most 

139 


140 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


colleges are held. But as it was anticipated that 
profits would arise from the business, it was pro- 
vided that all net profits should go to the support of 
the various missionary enterprises of the brother- 
hood. 

This re-organization relieved me of the responsi- 
bility which I had borne as president of the com- 
pany, and paved the way for my retirement from the 
active editorship of the paper. I remained as editor- 
in-chief for scme months to give the new organiza- 
tion continuity with the past and to give assurance 
that the new plan involved no change in the policy 
or spirit of The Christian-Evangelist. 

When my seventieth birthday arrived, all of these 
preliminaries had been completed and all the condi- 
tions had been met which seemed to be the necessary 
steps to my retirement without injury to any in- 
terest. At that time, therefore, I relinquished my 
post as editor-in-chief, and retired to the position of 
Editor-Emeritus, charged with the duty of doing 
as much or as little editorial writing as I pleased 
but with the understanding that my work would 
probably be confined to the continuance of the 
Eiditor’s Easy Chair as long as health and strength 
permitted. At that time I wrote and published the 
following editorial statement in regard to the 
change: 


A BACKWARD GLANCE: LIFE’S AFTERMATH 


This is not a valedictory. The change in my rela- 
tionship to The Christian-Evangelist, beginning with 
this number, is not a complete severance, but only 
loosing some cof the strands in the cord that hag so 
long bound me to its service. It is the laying down 
of a part of my burden that the other part may be 
borne longer and perhaps more acceptably. As 


RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE EDITORSHIP 141 


one’s powers of endurance and capacity for work 
inevitably diminish, a wise conservation of energy 
would seem to require that he concentrate his re- 
maining strength on the kind of work he is best 
fitted to do. This is the meaning of my change of 
relationship to the paper, by which I surrender to 
younger and stronger hands the burden of editorial 
management and responsibility to devote what time 
and strength there may remain to me to writing— 
not for the paper alone, but, if God please, in the 
line of some additional book-work. 

That this change should occur on my seventieth 
birthday, at my request, is perhaps more a matter 
of sentiment than of reason, and yet, there seemed 
to me to be good reasons for not postponing this 
change. It is a change in which, for obvious rea- 
sons, I desired to take the inititative. Age some- 
times brings with it a benevolent sort of blindness 
to its waning powers. I have a strong disinclina- 
tion to even seeming to lag superfluous on the stage. 
One thing I know is rapidly diminishing, whatever 
may be true of my intellectual powers, and that is 
the time in which I shall be permitted to labor in the 
earthly vineyard of the Lord. Reason would sug- 
gest that this limited time be used where I can ac- 
complish the most enduring good. The brethren 
upon whom now rests the editorial responsibility, 
are much more mature in years and experience than 
the writer was when he assumed the editorship. 
They do not need my assistance in bearing the 
editorial responsibility, and if at any time they wish 
my advice, I will be in calling distance. For them 
I bespeak the same gracious consideration and 
courtesy from our readers which they have so long 
extended to me. 


142 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Forty and three years on the first of last January, 
I accepted the position of editor of this paper, or 
its predecessor. It is not without mingled emotions 
of sadness and of satisfaction that I lay down the 
responsibility. Never before in the history of the 
paper has the way been open for me to transfer 
this responsibility to other hands, though I have 
often desired to do so. I came to feel at last that 
God had called me to this work and had shut my 
way up so I could not escape from it. I therefore 
became reconciled to it until I had served my time, 
and had accomplished that particular task to which 
I had been called. That task seemed to have been 
accomplished with the transfer of the paper and of 
the publishing house from private ownership and 
management to the control of trustees who hold and 
manage them in trust for the use and benefit of the 
brotherhood at large. I have remained in my old 
position long enough, since this transfer was made, 
to preserve the historic continuity of the Christian 
Publishing Company, of which I was president for 
nearly as many years as I have been editor of the 
paper—and the Christian Board of Publication, 
which is the heir of all the toil, struggles, tears, 
prayers of the mighty host of saintly men and 
women, who for nearly half a century have been 
consecrated to this enterprise. 


Above I spoke of mingled emotions of sadness and 
satisfaction—sadness because of even this partial 
change of a relationship which has lasted so long 
and has produced so many sacred friendships, and 
about which have clung so many hallowed memories, 
hopes and aspirations. The testimony of thousands 
in these years, that their Christian lives have been 
broadened, deepened and enriched by the paper, is to 


RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE EDITORSHIP 143 


me a priceless heritage. It has compensated me for 
the strenuous toil, and the burden of anxiety and 
responsibility which have often seemed to press me 
to the ground. The feeling of satisfaction comes 
from the fact that the paper and the Board of 
Publication, of which it is a part, into which so 
much of my life has gone, are not only to continue, 
but to go on with a power and influence which they 
never could have attained under private ownership. 
This crowning blessing of God’s providence exceeds 
my fondest hopes, and is cause for deepest satisfac- 
tion and devout thanksgiving. Every devout man 
who, like Moses, has put his life into some great 
enterprise for God, has prayed with him, ‘* Estab- 
lish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the 
work of our hands, establish thou it!’’ 

From the hill-top of years, may I be pardoned 
for a glance backward across the more than two 
score years of editorial work? No one can be more 
conscious than I am of the limitations and short- 
comings of this rather long editorial career. As 
I look back at it, however, I am consoled by the 
fact that I have said and done in each case and 
emergency what seemed to me at the time to be de- 
manded in the situation, by the best interest of the 
cause. While keeping in mind what Jesus told his 
disciples—that he had many things to say to them 
which they could not then bear—I am not conscious 
of ever having withheld a word that I believed 
Christ wanted me to utter because it would provoke 
opposition from those whose faces have been set 
against all change and progress. 

The great key-words of The Christian-Evangelist 
have been Liberty, Loyalty, and Love. Liberty in 
Christ, loyalty to Christ, and love for Him and the 


144 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


brethren, enabling us to ‘‘forbear one another in 
love’’ and to ‘‘keep the unity of the Spirit in the 
bond of peace.’’ It has stood for Christian lberty 
in the wide realm of thought, and of expediency, in 
methods of organization and worship, within the 
circle of loyalty to Christ. It has never recognized 
any conflict between the utmost loyalty to our plea 
for Christian unity, and co-operation with all other 
believers in Christ in carrying forward enterprises 
of common interest for furtherance of the kingdom. 
Not only so, it has pointed out constantly that no 
other attitude is consistent with the principles of 
our plea. This position has caused opposition and 
misrepresentation, but who today does not recognize 
the vantage ground it has given us in our propa- 
ganda of the New Testament plea for unity? 

In my heart, as God knows, I have been, not only 
loyal to the great reformatory movement of the 
nineteenth century, but passionately devoted to it. 
No man, in my estimation, is so disloyal to 1t as he 
who makes a mere opinion or theory an occasion 
of division, or who, by his exclusiveness and bigotry, 
creates the impression that we are a narrow, hobby- 
riding sect, instead of a people seeking to be as 
broad and catholic as Christ and the New Testa- 
ment. On the other hand The Christian-Evangelist 
has never advocated, but has stood, foursquare 
against, all proposed shortcuts to Christian union 
which compromise Christ’s authority or the institu- 
tions of his appointment. Union is not to be 
hastened by the sacrifice of unity. 

Let this suffice for the past. What of the future? 
Is there any work a septuagenarian may do? In 
the beautifully written volume by Dr. J. M. Camp- 
bell, entitled, ‘‘Grow Old Along With Me,’’ in a 


RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE EDITORSHIP 145 


chapter entitled, ‘‘Life’s Aftermath,’’ he says: 
‘When the full harvest of life has been reaped, 
there should be an aftermath—a second crop—which 
in its own way is just as valuable as the first. This 
aftermath will in some respects be different from 
anything that has been produced; but in all its es- 
sential qualities it will be the same as the main 
erop.’’ (p. 45.) How much of an ‘‘aftermath’’ there 
is to be in my work, I know not. But this I do know, 
I have no desire to cease work. It would require 
more effort and self-denial to cease my literary work 
entirely than to continue to do what I can in that 
line for the Lord who has been so good to me, and 
to all our sinning and suffering race. 


‘‘Whether many or few, all my days are his due; 
They shall all be devoted to him.’’ 


In so far the title Emeritus, with which the di- 
rectors have honored me, carries with it the idea 
of being out of service, it is inapplicable to me. 
Let it stand for the completion of the ‘‘main crop,’’ 
as our friend, Dr..Campbell, would call it, while with 
God’s help, and the continued inspiration and en- 
couragement of my friends, I will try to produce 
‘the aftermath,’’ which may furnish some nourish- 
ment for those hungering and thirsting after right- 
eousness, and redeem life’s eventide from fruitless 
leisure. 


A NEW TITLE—EDITOR-EMERITUS 


(These paragraphs from the Easy Chair imme- 
diately following my retirement embody some fur- 
ther reflections upon my new status, and some indi- 
cations of how life looked to me at that time:) 

‘*Hmeritus!’’ That is an honorary title which only 
age and long service can confer. Hence, it is not a 


146 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


title for which men scramble! It originally meant 
honorably discharged from service. Of course, it 
does not mean that now, for here is the same old 
‘¢Wasy Chair,’’ and the same old occupant, perform- 
ing the same old service, in the same old way! Out 
of service? Not while the hand is able to write, the 
brain to think, the heart to feel the world’s need, the 
tongue to speak the message of God’s love, and the 
feet to walk to the house of God or to the home of 
sorrow. Rather, in view of the calls God is making 
on this generation, and the wide-open doors of op- 
portunity everywhere, one who has caught the vision 
of the world’s needs, feels ike praying that the sun 
of one’s brief day of life might be stayed in its 
course toward the horizon until the great battle for 
righteousness and truth might be won by a united 
ehurch, conquering in the name and under the ban- 
ner of Christ. Seventy—and a large part of the 
world yet in pagan darkness! Seventy—and the 
licensed saloon dealing out death, demoralization 
and destruction in our own Christian land! Seventy 
—and the masses of our working-men alienated 
from the church founded by the Carpenter of Gali- 
lee! Seventy—and the church yet divided into sepa- 
rate and competing, not to say warring, factions, in 
spite of Jesus’ prayer for its unity. This is the 
pathos of age—this is why the man at seventy would 
retard the chariot wheels of time, if he could, that 
he might share further in these great conflicts and 
also in the triumphant celebration of victories sure 
to be won. 


January 1, 1869—February 1, 1912. These two 
dates span the period of my editorial service. It 
seems to me a short span. It was only a little while 
ago that I wrote my ‘‘Salutatory’”’ in the Gospel 


RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE EDITORSHIP 147 


Echo. I have just taken down from my library a 
leather-bound volume of that magazine for the year 
1869. There is first an introduction by the senior 
editor, Brother J. C. Reynolds, who, though a truth- 
ful man, speaks of me in terms which I would not 
like to vouch for, especially as to my ‘‘scholarship’’ 
and ‘‘literary attainments.’’ Yet, as I had recited 
Latin and Greek to him at college, my repudiation 
of these claims might have reflected on him as a 
teacher. I am glad to note in my salutatory, how- 
ever, a modest disclaimer of any ‘‘trained quill’’ 
and ‘‘mind rich in the treasures of wisdom’’ or 
‘¢self-illumined by the scintillations of its own gen- 
ius.’? A bit sophomoric that, but modest all the 
same. Here is the closing paragraph: ‘‘Our bark 
is ready. Carefully, hopefully, prayerfully, we com- 
mit it to the great sea of religious literature. Her 
sails are unfurled. Our colors float proudly from 
the summit of the mast. With our hands at the 
helm and our eyes fixed steadfastly on Bethlehem’s 
star, a ‘God bless you’ and a ‘Happy New Year’ to 
all, and we make our editorial bow.’’ Observe, it 
was only a ‘‘bark’’ we were launching, and that it 
relied on sails to catch the favoring breeze of 
public opinion, to make it go. Little did I dream of 
the length of the voyage before me, or of the tem- 
pests that would assail our frail craft once it was 
out in mid-ocean. But in God’s providence it has 
kept afloat till now, having been transformed, mean- 
while, from a small sailing bark to a modern ocean 
liner, with twin-serew propellers, watertight com- 
partments and all the safety appliances! Of course, 
it is entitled to new pilots, engineers and crew. 


I have spoken of the time between the two dates 
mentioned as seeming to be short. This is true of 


148 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


the swift backward look that takes no note of in- 
tervening events. But if one stops to analyze the 
period into months and years and decades, and to 
note the events, the changes, the obstacles to over- 
come, the opposition to sane and healthy progress, 
the tasks accomplished, and the growth of the broth- 
erhood in numbers, in missionary organization 
and achievement, the problems solved and the wider 
outlook of the movement, which is now a factor in 
the religious life of this country and in world-wide 
missions, the time seems long. Not a forward step 
has been taken in all this period which has not had 
the advocacy and often the leadership of this paper. 
Naturally, this has drawn upon the paper and its 
editor a good deal of criticism from those who iden- 
tified progress with heresy. No doubt the critics 
in the main meant well; at any rate there is not a 
lingering trace of bitterness in my heart toward 
any writer who has ever criticized the paper and 
the measures it has advocated. When I stop to think 
of the vast amount of writing I have done in those 
forty-three years, I feel deeply the responsibility I 
have incurred. Much of it related to passing events 
and will live only in lives it has helped to enrich, 
and in the movements it has helped to shape. Some 
of it, particularly that part which is embodied in 
the books I have written, I would fain hope may 
continue to live, and to be appreciated hereafter 
more than at the present time. However that may 
be, what is written is written, and we commit it to 
God’s providence and mercy. 

A few years ago some one wrote a book on ‘‘ How 
to be Happy Though Married.’’ There’s room for 
another book, if anyone will dare to write it, on 
‘“How to be Honest and Fair, Though Editor of a 


RETIREMENT FROM ACTIVE EDITORSHIP 149 


Religious Journal!’’ Few positions offer more 
temptations to duplicity, misrepresentation and 
playing to the gallery. That so many editors resist 
these temptations and are reasonably fair in stat- 
ing the position of an opponent, and cultivate the 
virtue of candor and square-dealing, is much to the 
credit of the fraternity. There should be a conven- 
tion occasionally of editors of religious papers who 
are in good standing to talk over their common prob- 
lems, temptations and perils, and to swap ideas 
about editing a religious journal. One live question 
for discussion would be, ‘‘Can an editor hold his 
job on a religious paper and be in good standing 
with his readers if he should adopt the Golden Rule 
in his treatment of other editors and of other relig- 
ious bodies?’’ There is probably no severer test of 
Christian character than that which an editor is sub- 
jected to when he undertakes to state the religious 
position of others, especially with the view of re- 
plying to same. There is no class of people who 
need the prayers of their brethren more than the 
editors of religious papers. Yet who prays for 
them? How few even understand the tax on their 
wisdom and their patience. They are often criti- 
cised for utterances, based on a wide knowledge of 
facts, by readers who see only a very limited part 
of the field. Because an editor must write of other 
papers and peoples, his motive is often misunder- 
stood. Pray that he may be honest, ‘‘though an 
Editor. ”’ 

For my own part, I have received more criticism 
for trying to be just and fair to all in my editorial 
work than I have received for all the errors or mis- 
takes [ ever committed. Some people count courtesy 
as the opposite of courage, and fairness as a sign 


150 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


of weakness! But an editor can always rely on the 
good judgment and sense of fairness of the majority 
of his readers to approve a policy of justice, cour- 
tesy and fairness. To the readers of The Christian- 
Evangelist who have, through all these years, sup- 
ported the paper in its efforts to maintain this 
editorial policy, I feel a debt of gratitude which I 
cannot adequately express. In the midst of un- 
founded suspicions based on crude misconceptions, 
their words of encouragement, and their steadfast 
friendship and sympathy, have been a source of 
comfort and strength. They have understood me 
and my ideal of journalism. In spite of all the hard- 
ships, the heartaches, the disappointments, the hard 
work and ceaseless anxiety of my editorial life, I 
thank God for leading me into it. I would not 
choose differently if I had my life to live over again. 
Its compensations have been rich and rare. And 
the consciousness of doing good for Christ and his 
cause has lightened all my burdens, and sweetened 
all my toil. I am not saying ‘‘good-bye’’ to our 
readers. We shall meet often in this, and other 
departments of the paper, if it please God, in whose 
hands are the destinies of men. 


CHAPTER XV 


Worup’s MIssIonARY CONFERENCE AT H)DINBURGH 


In 1910 there was held in the old city of Kdin- 
burgh, Scotland, a World’s Missionary Conference 
of all Protestant religious bodies, to consider the 
subject of missions, or the evangelization of the 
world. Mrs. Garrison and I decided to attend this 
conference and revisit some of the scenes in Hurope 
and perhaps some places we had never visited. We 
sailed from New York harbor, May 31, on the 
steamer ‘‘Kroonland,’’ together with many others 
bound for this missionary conference, including 
many prominent ministers and laymen, and we held 
a sort of floating convention on the ship. We landed 
at Southampton, June 9, and proceeded north by 
way of London and Liverpool to Bowness on Lake 
Windemere. Here Frank Coop and wife of South- 
port, joined us in their car to take us through the 
lake region, having driven 70 miles before breakfast 
to overtake us. I copy from the ‘‘Kasy Chair’’ of 
that year, a description of this second trip to Eu- 
rope, including the conference and an account of 
several historic places visited. 

We sped along the north shore of Windemere, 
where the Coops have a summer home, which we 
paused to admire, and then on to Ambleside again 
and to the Knoll where Harriet Martineau lived at 
one time, and was visited by George Eliot. On the 
way down by Lake Windemere the house where Mrs. 
Hemans lived and wrote was pointed out. The new 
route for this morning took us by Fox How, the 
home of Dr. Arnold—Arnold of Rugby—and on to 
Hawkshead, where the old schoolhouse stands yet 

151 


152 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


in which Wordsworth went to school. On the writ- 
ing desk in front of his seat the boy Wordsworth 
cut his name in the wood, which is now covered with 
glass. Thence we drove to Coniston, where is the 
grave of John Ruskin, on whose tombstone seven 
lamps are engraved, suggested by one of his most 
famous books. Around Coniston Water, towards its 
northern end, is ‘‘Brantwood,’’ the home of John 
Ruskin for twenty-five years. On through Yewdale, 
and by Ettenwater to Grasmere again, and then we 
began the long upward grade toward Keswick, with 
mountains to the right of us and mountains to the 
left of us, with the vale of Grasmere behind us, while 
old Helvellyn had a veil of mists and clouds about 
his head. Almost midway between Grasmere and 
Keswick les Lake Thirlmere, three miles long, a 
quarter of a mile wide, and over five hundred feet 
above sea level. It is the chief source of the water 
supply of Manchester, ninety-five miles away, with 
which it is connected by a series of huge aqueducts. 
On the shore of this lake we halted, kindled a fire, 
boiled some tea, and had an excellent mid-day 
lunch, which the Coops had brought along with them. 
Soon we were in sight of Derwentwater where the 
‘‘water comes down at Lodore,’’ and Keswick, the 
home of the poet Southey, where is his marble 
sarcophagus. Thanks to the Coops and their speedy 
automobile, we visited many places about the lake 
region which we had not seen before, saw a large 
amount of beautiful scenery, and reached Keswick in 
good time for an early afternoon train to Edinburgh, 
where we arrived about six P.m., glancing at Melrose 
Abbey and the woolen mills of Gallashiels, as we 
passed. 

Here we are in the old historic city of Edinburgh 
—‘the Queen of the North,’’ and the terminus ad 


WORLD’S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH 153 


quem of our long journey. We are quartered at the 
Hotel Royal on Princess Street, fronting the great 
monument to Walter Scott, and the Assembly Hall 
on the hill, just across the valley and Princess gar- 
dens, where the World Conference is now in session. 
We arrived in time for the reception of delegates 
on Monday evening, which might be described as a 
brilliant affair. On Tuesday afternoon the Confer- 
ence was organized with Lord Balfour as chairman 
and with necessary secretaries and clerks. On Tues- 
day evening Lord Balfour delivered a brief and well- 
worded presidential address, outlining the objects 
and aims of the Conference. The Archbishop of 
Canterbury delivered an address on the central 
place of missions in the church. ‘‘If the delegates 
to this conference be weighed, rather than counted 
merely, there has been no such meeting in the an- 
nals of Christian history,’’ he said. The primate 
of the Church of England was followed by the un- 
titled, unordained young man from America, Robert 
Ki. Speer, on the leadership of Christ in the world 
of missions, and none of us felt ashamed of our 
American representative. 

Just now the most wonderful thing in this old 
city is not its old castles, its ancient and historic 
buildings, its imposing monuments and beautiful 
parks, but the great World Missionary Conference, 
which is now nearing its close. Today and this eve- 
ning will complete its program. Great Britain, the 
Continent of Europe, and North America, with their 
dependencies and their mission fields, have been face 
to face and heart to heart in consultation and prayer 
for the last eight days on the subject of the greatest 
interest to mankind—the evangelization of the world 
and the bringing in of the universal reign of Christ. 
The large assembly hall in which the Conference 


154 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


meets has been crowded daily with probably the 
most representative body of the church universal 
which has ever convened on this planet. Only the 
Roman Catholic and Greek churches were not rep- 
resented, and this, of course, by their own choice. 
For the first time the high church party of the 
Church of England joined in a meeting with their 
non-conformist brethren, and one of these said he 
‘*felt like a lion in a den of Daniels!’’ There can be 
no question but they felt like ‘‘lions,’’ and some of 
them claimed the lion’s share of apostolicity and 
eatholicity! The business committee probably felt 
that it was a great victory to gain their co-operation, 
and hence it gave them a prominence on the program 
and in the discussions which was out of proportion 
to what they have contributed toward making such 
a gathering possible. John R. Mott, now Doctor 
Mott by the action of the Edinburgh University, 
which conferred the degree of D.D. on both him and 
Robert E. Speer at the beginning of the Conference, 
presided over the business sessions of the Confer- 
ence during the day, while a different chairman pre- 
sided over each session. The work of the Confer- 
ence was embraced in the printed reports of eight 
commissions, which consisted of from twenty to 
thirty members on each commission, who had been 
appointed fully a year and a half before. Each of 
these commissions did faithful work in gathering 
information and formulating its report. Each of 
these reports occupied a day in its discussion. 
That our readers may understand the scope of the 
Conference, we give the titles of these commissions 
as follows: 1. Carrying the Gospel to all the Non- 
Christian World. 2. The Church in the Mission 
Field. 3. Education in Relation to Christianization 
of National Life. 4. The Missionary Message in 


WORLD’S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH 155 


Relation to Non-Christian Religions. 5. The Prepa- 
ration of Missionaries. 6. The Home Base of Mis- 
sions. 7. Missions and Governments. 8. Co-opera- 
tion and the Promotion of Christian Unity. These 
general topics, with their various subdivisions, cov- 
ered most of the missionary problems, and served 
to put before the church, as it has never been done 
before, the vastness of the task which our Lord has 
laid upon us. No wonder the topic for discussion 
on the last evening was, ‘‘God Is Our Sufficiency.’’ 


Perhaps the greatest interest centered in the re- 
port of Commission VIII, on ‘‘Co-operation and the 
Promotion of Christian Unity.’’ The report itself 
was admirable in spirit and bore eloquent testimony 
to the necessity of union in order to the conversion 
of the world. So far as the missionaries were con- 
eerned their sentiment was unanimous for union, 
and they do not regard it as a far-off event, but one 
that is actually taking place in mission fields. Every 
speaker favored it, but many frankly confessed they 
saw no way to bring it about, but they believed God 
would show us the way. The Disciples have a dis- 
tinct contribution to make to this problem, but no 
opportunity was given them to participate in the 
discussion. The writer sent in his card, according 
to rule, expressing his desire to speak on the sub- 
ject, but the chairman claimed afterward that he did 
not understand the particular subdivision of the 
subject, desired to discuss. Brother Hensey, of 
Bolenge, Africa, had a correction to make concern- 
ing the work in the Congo, but his was one of the 
left-over cards. These facts, together with the fact 
that no representative of the Disciples had a place 
on any commission, or on the program of the Con- 
ference, or has been given a place on the new Con- 
tinuation Committee which has been appointed, nat- 


156 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


urally cause our delegates here to feel that an in- 
justice has been done us. While sharing in this 
feeling, I cannot believe that it is the deliberate in- 
tention of the committee to slight us, but that it is 
the result of the fact that the men managing this 
Conference know little or nothing of the position or 
strength of the Disciples. The remedy is a more 
whole-souled participation in all union efforts af 
home, and greater consecration to the work of mis- 
sions. In a word, our policy is to compel recogni- 
tion by the place we shall win for ourselves in mis- 
sion work, and in service to our fellowmen. 

Since the foregoing was written a new phase of 
the matter has been developed. Bro. A. McLean 
wrote a respectful protest to the chairman of the 
executive committee against the injustice done us. 
I had previously written Chairman Mott urging 
McLean’s appointment as a member of the Contin- 
uation Committee and pointing out that we had no 
representation in the official management nor on the 
program. These communications had the effect of 
bringing a hearty disclaimer of any intention to dis- 
criminate and an invitation for one of us to send 
up a card and he would be glad to call on us. But 
neither of us felt that we could afford to do so under 
the circumstances; that is, as a concession to a pro- 
test. We must accept the explanation and not allow 
any injustice, through a lack of knowledge of us, to 
hinder our appreciation of so great and significant a 
gathering. The discussion of Christian union was 
marred by an excess of high churchism, which in- 
truded its theory of ecclesiastical union in what 
seemed bad taste to some of us, but on the whole 
there was a clear perception of the truth, which all 
but the blind could see, that the only union possible 
or desirable is union on Jesus Christ as the only and 


WORLD’S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH 157 


sufficient creed. True, some of the Anglicans spoke 
of the ‘* Nicene Creed,’’ and some of the ‘‘ Apostles’ 
Creed,’’ but these sentiments called out no approval 
from the great body of the Conference. Such was 
the solemn emphasis on the necessity of unity and 
the sin of perpetuating our divisions, that it does 
not seem possible that our denominationalism can 
ever obtrude itself into our councils in a way to 
destroy the effectiveness of Christian co-operation 
and the growth of Christian unity; especially on the 
mission field. 

We are sure that this Conference will mark a 
new epoch in the history of missions. The vast 
amount of information which has been gathered and 
collated from all fields, the principles of missions, 
together with methods of comity and co-operation— 
all this is bound to tell mightily on the future of 
mission work. 

The Conference is over. The addresses last night 
were chiefly devotional, leading up to a solemn dedi- 
cation of all the delegates, led by Chairman Mott, to 
the great task which has called us together. The 
ereat hall was packed to its fullest. Tickets of ad- 
mission were in great demand. The spirit of de- 
votion was very marked. Indeed, this has been the 
dominant feature of this great Conference. We 
have heard greater addresses in our own conventions 
than most of those made here. It has not been a 
great speech-making convention, but what its name 
implies—a conference of workers concerning the 
great undertaking in which they are engaged. This 
brought them face to face with God in prayer. At 
the heart of each business session all business was 
suspended, and a half hour devoted to intercession. 
Much of this was silent prayer, in which absolute 
silence reigned, save an occasional word from the 


158 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


leader directing the petitions along common lines. 
Singing was another striking feature. There was 
not a solo, quartet, or chorus, but the full, hearty 
singing of the old church hymns by all the delegates. 
In a word, it was a deeply spiritual body of men who 
believed profoundly in God, in Christ, im prayer, 
and in the greatness of their work. No doubt the 
Conference marks a new epoch in Christian mis- 
sions, and we believe in the relation of Christian 
people toward each other at home and abroad. We 
Disciples have had delightful associations with each 
other here—the Philputts, the Longs, the Lockharts, 
the Hieronymuses, the Morrisons, the Gates, the 
Thomsons (Sydney and his son Harry), the In- 
mans, the Henseys, the Graingers, the McGavrans, 
the McLeans, Sisters Harrison, Pounds, Oeschger, 
Thompson, Lindsay, the Marshes, and perhaps a few 
others whose names escape us. A tea-meeting with 
our Roxbury Chapel brethren here, on Tuesday eve- 
ning last, was a most delightful occasion, with re- 
freshments, speeches, songs, prayers and a general 
love-feast. The writer preached to them Sunday 
morning and several spoke at night. Now we scat- 
ter, several of us to meet in London, July 4, at our 
own Conference. We leave this morning for Glas- 
gow, thence to North Ireland for a few days, and 
thence to Southport and London. A great historic 
gathering disperses to the ends of the world. Let 
us hope its influence will abide forever, and hasten 
the redemption of the world. 

Since returning home from the conference we have 
set down certain impressions concerning it which 
may be of interest to our readers. We ean only 
mention a few of them: (1) The greatness of pur- 
pose which convened the conference. What other 
object could have gathered the leaders out of every 


WORLD’S MISSIONARY CONFERENCE AT EDINBURGH 159 


religious body in Christendom except the Roman 
Catholic and Greek churches, and from the most dis- 
tant parts of the earth, to sit in council for ten days? 
No cther motive would have been adequate to bring 
together such a noted assembly as this. (2) The 
growing ascendancy of Christ. No one could sit in 
that conference without feeling that Jesus Christ is 
coming more and more to his rightful place in the 
church. He has too long been obscured by doctrines 
and dogmas, ecclesiasticisms, and sectarian rivalries, 
and his great work has been sorely neglected. Now 
the church seems to be awaking to the fact which 
always ought to have been obvious, that its exclu- 
sive business in this world is to extend the reign of 
Christ over the hearts and lves of man, and to 
carry good news of salvation through him to all the 
nations, tribes, and families of men. (3) The mag- 
nitude of our unfinished task. There was no disposi- 
tion in this conference to belittle the difficulties that 
stand in the way of the universal triumph of Chris- 
tianity. The degradation of the peoples who sit in 
darkness; the power of age-long superstition and 
idolatry ; national and racial antipathies; the aggres- 
sive power of Mohammedanism and of certain other 
cults; the prejudice awakened against Christianity 
by the misrepresentations of non-Christians coming 
from Christian lands, not to give, but to get; the di- 
vided condition of the Church, and its world-mind- 
edness—all these, and many other obstacles, were 
fully and frankly stated so that we might see the 
magnitude of the task which yet remains to be ac- 
complished by the church. (4) The unifying power 
of a great task. Was it any wonder that a great 
assembly, brought thus face to face with the magni- 
tude of the world’s need and the difficulties to be 
overcome, should instinctively realize the folly of 


160 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


undertaking this task with divided forces, and.should 
feel the necessity of closing up our divided ranks? 
Especially would the missionaries who had been in 
a hand-to-hand conflict with the power of paganism 
feel the need of, and plead for, a united Church. 
(5) The folly of ecclesiastical arrogance and exclu- 
siveness. There was just enough of that sort of 
spirit exhibited in two or three of the High Church 
representatives to make one realize how utterly out 
of harmony it was with the prevailing spirit of the 
assembly and with the spirit of Christ. The religious 
body which today says in effect, ‘‘ We are the people; 
we have the truth; we are infallible, and the rest of 
you must come to us to be corrected,’’ 1s an an- 
achronism, and needs to learn that humility is one 
of the Christly virtues without which there can be 
no unity. (6) Remarkable devotional feature. There 
was something more deeply impressive than any- 
thing we have ever witnessed in any other religious 
gathering. The most impressive and deeply solemn 
moments were those of absolute silence—a silence 
so profound that it was awe-inspiring. Never was 
prayer more exalted as an essential factor in all 
religious work than in that great representative 
gathering. The singing, too, was in harmony with 
this devout and reverential spirit. (7) Finally, as 
was announced by Dr. Mott, we have discovered that 
the greatest hindrance to the spread of Christianity 
hes in ourselves. The doors are open everywhere; 
the fields are ripe for the harvest; our God is ready 
to enrich us with all spiritual wisdom and strength 
for the task, but the Church is divided, and is not 
consecrating its talents and wealth to the supreme 
work for which it was called into existence. 


CHAPTER XVI 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU 


THE following record of a month of travel in Ire- 
land, England and on the continent following the 
Edinburgh Conference in the summer of 1910 is 
taken from Easy Chair paragraphs written at that 
time. 

The Conference ended, the Disciples present met, 
by some subtle law of affinity, in front of the As- 
sembly Hall, exchanged mutual good-byes and good 
wishes and parted, going our several ways. The 
scribe and his travelling companion came to Glas- 
gow Friday morning, and proceeded, after register- 
ing for a room in a hotel, to the town of Ayr, the 
birthplace of Robert Burns, located down the coast 
about forty miles southwest of Glasgow. It is a 
larger town than we expected to find, containing at 
present a population of about 20,000. In the town 
itself stands a statue of Burns, looking in the direce- 
tion of his birthplace, which is about two miles 
away. After lunching at the hotel, we took a cab 
and drove out to the spot which is now the lterary 
Mecca of so many pilgrims. The cottage is a long, 
low white building, with a thatched roof, divided 
into four rooms. We enter from what is really the 
rear of the cabin, over a green, smoothly-shaven 
lawn, bordered with flowers. The first room entered 
was originally the barn, and a large stone marks the 
place where the grain was threshed and a wooden 
flail shows how it was done. The next apartment 
contained stalls for the cattle and horses, for the 
poet’s father was a farmer. The next room was 
the living room, containing such articles of homely 

161 


162 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


furniture as a poor family of that date would use, 
including a large spinning wheel and a smaller one, 
and the table and chairs. But the last room, the 
kitchen, was the most interesting, for besides the 
old fireplace and its crane and the quaint cooking 
utensils, and the tall clock, there stood back in one 
corner a set-in bed. Here, on a winter night in 
1759, the author of ‘‘Cotter’s Saturday Night’’ was 
born, to whose birthplace kings and princes now 
come to do him honor. A neat modern building 
stands by, filled with memorials and mementoes of 
the poet and the place. Further on, near the bank 
of the Doon, stands a large monument which the 
poet’s admiring friends have erected, in the base 
of which are rooms containing many manuscripts 
and other documents relating to him. 

Between Burns’ cottage and the monument stand 
the roofless walls of the ‘‘auld Allowell Kirk,” 
where Tam o’ Shanter saw the witches dance. A 
gray and grizzled watchman, with a wooden leg and 
a sightless eye, presides over these ruins and the 
cemetery which surrounds it, and can quote, with 
proper Scottish brogue, Burns’ poetry by the yard. 
One of these tombstones marks the grave of the 
poet’s father, William Burns, and contains a beauti- 
ful tribute from the son to the father. Here also are 
buried two of the poet’s nieces. Time is playing 
havoe with many of these tombstones, as it has al- 
ready with the memory of the men whose fame they 
were intended to perpetuate. How transient a thing 
is human fame! How few of us can escape oblivion 
save as our names are written in God’s ‘‘book of 
remembrance,’’ which, after all, is the only thing 
that matters! Of course we walked down to where 
the old bridge spans the clear, warbling Doon, and 
standing in the center of it and looking down its 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU 163 


winding course through the green fields and the 
gently sloping hills, we could readily understand 
how Burns could write, ‘‘Ye banks and braes 0’ 
bonnie Doon’’! The whole region hereabouts, 
though beautified by the hand of man, must have 
been beautiful in the poet’s time, with nature’s own 
simple beauty. Returning to the town, we crossed 
the Rye, near where ‘‘the twa brigs,’’ of which 
Burns sang, span the stream side by side, the old 
and the new, the former outlasting the latter, as 
his poem prophesies. The poet’s grave is at Dum- 
fries, where he spent his last years in the service 
of the government at the princely salary of 50 
pounds a year. He died as he lived, a poor man, 
but he won a name above that of kings and 
potentates, because he had the insight to see that 
‘frank is but the guinea’s stamp,’’ and though one 
be poor and lowly born, ‘‘a man’s a man for a’ 
that.’’ We returned to Glasgow in time to ride out 
to the university on one of their corporation street 
ears, which is making money on penny fares for 
ordinary distances. It was time for the gates to 
close when we arrived, but we arranged with the 
maid who keeps the gate to let us out when we had 
walked through the grounds and around the magnif- 
icent structure crowning Gilmore Hill. This build- 
ing has superseded the more humble one which stood 
there when Thomas and Alexander Campbell were 
students within its walls. But has the ancient uni- 
versity ever sent forth two men who have exerted 
a wider influence for human good than this father 
and son, whose work was largely done in the new 
world? Eternity alone can answer. 

The next day we sailed from Androssan, the sea- 
port for Glasgow, on one of the Laird Line of 
steamers for Portrush, on the northern coast of Ire- 


164 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


land. Hitherto we have been largely revisiting 
scenes we had visited more than a quarter of a cen- 
tury ago. Now we were entering new territory. We 
were favored with a fine day and a calm sea—not a 
prominent characteristic of this Channel. We were 
scarcely out of sight of the land on the voyage, a 
projecting arm of Scotland, forming the Clyde, and 
some islands belonging thereto following us, until 
the shores of Ireland rose out of the sea. Sometimes 
the vessel ran close to the shore, so that we could 
see the green hills and the grazing herds feeding 
upon them. As we neared Portrush the bluffs grew 
bolder and Giant’s Causeway was pointed out on 
the shore to our left. We landed at the harbor of 
Portrush, a popular summer resort, at 2 P.M. 
Having lunched on the vessel, it was not long until 
our baggage had been deposited in a hotel and we 
were seated in Ireland’s gondola, an Irish jaunting 
ear, for an eight-mile ride up the coast for a nearer 
view of the Giant’s Causeway. 

Our boatman dexterously rowed us around and 
between immense stones forming miniature Pat- 
moses, and entered a cave sixty feet in height, worn 
out of the solid cliff, whose stony sides were 
variegated with a variety of tints from the pink at 
the bottom to the deep green at the top. One side 
of this cave was trap rock and the other basalt, and 
they met together at the top in a seam or ‘‘fault.’’ 
A pistol fired at the mouth echoed like a cannon in 
this mighty eavern. Then we entered a similar cave 
called the Cathedral, forming a perfect Gothic arch 
ninety feet high, and rowed into it so far that Mrs. 
G. begged that we go no further. While in there 
we sang a song and never realized before what 
superb voices we possessed! But old ocean has been 
singing his anthems in these caves perhaps long 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU 165 


before man made his entrance upon the tragic stage 
of human life. As our boatman rowed us along in 
front of these perfectly formed columns of stone, 
formed with a skill surpassing that of man, it was 
plain that tremendous forces had aided in rearing 
these columns. Ocean, earthquake, and fire have 
been in a mighty struggle and these shapely columns 
are crystals formed in the heat of this titanic con- 
flict. Once more in our jaunting car, backs to each 
other, facing outward, we returned to the hotel by 
the same route, passing the arch of stone through 
which one views the ocean, then the old Dunluce 
castle, now in ruins, standing on the ocean’s brink 
on a crag, and separated from the land by a deep 
moat—an intimation that human forces had also 
been in conflict along these shores in times not pre- 
historic. Fierce were the tribes and clans that once 
strove for the mastery of these fair shores. We 
pass also one of the finest golf links in Ireland, as 
we near the town, showing that the men of our day 
would rather play than fight, and prefer golf-sticks 
to war-clubs. We had a perfect day for this visit, 
and our guide assured us it was seldom calm enough, 
and the tide at just the right stage to enable him to 
show visitors what he had shown us. 

And these wonders are in County Antrim. Did 
the reader ever hear of that county? The primary 
object of our visit to this county was not to see 
Giant’s Causeway, but to visit the scenes of the 
early labors of Thomas and Alexander Campbell. A 
secondary object was to locate the section from 
which the maternal ancestors of the Editor emi- 
grated about the beginning of the last century. On 
the evening of the same day on which we had seen 
the wonders previously described, we took the train 
for Antrim, a town of less than two thousand popu- 


166 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


lation, located near Lough Neagh, the largest body 
of fresh water in the Kingdom. We spent Lord’s 
day there, attending the worship at the Presbyterian 
Church, whose pastor was exceedingly courteous in 
giving us what information he could concerning the 
Campbells, which was very little. A Mr. Smith, a 
Unitarian minister and a local historian, had at one 
time made some investigations concerning the Camp- 
bells for one of our ministers, to whom he sent the 
results of his investigations, the receipt of which 
was never acknowledged. He put us on the track 
of interesting facts which we followed up, returning 
on Sunday evening to Ballymena for that purpose. 
But concerning that we will write more fully here- 
after. Suffice it to say that we located our own 
ancestors in the same county, and learned that they 
all came originally from Scotland. From Ballymena, 
concerning which more hereafter, we came to Bel- 
fast, a modern, up-to-date city, where we spent the 
remainder of the day and the night following. It 
was interesting to note that fully nine-tenths of the 
names on the business houses of Belfast were 
familiar American names. The City Hall in Belfast 
is one of the finest structures of the kind we ever 
saw. In the forenoon we came to Dublin, the metrop- 
olis of Ireland and an interesting old city. The 
country between these cities is beautiful and the 
crops are promising. It is an undulating country, 
and its small farms, divided from each other by 
hedges, with their white cottages, make a pleasing 
picture. Flax, oats, potatoes, with other vegetables 
and grasses, seem to be the principal crops. Straw- 
berries grow to perfection and are just now at their 
best. The streets of Dublin abound in statues to the 
memory of Britain’s heroes and Ireland’s patriots. 
In St. Patrick’s Church we saw the grave and pul- 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU 167 


pit of Dean Swift. We leave today for the Isle of 
Man, and go thence to Southport for the Lord’s day. 
The weather, since our first day in Ireland, has been 
cool and rainy. Ireland has made a valuable con- 
tribution to our great Republic, and the Irish heart 
beats warmly for America and Americans. 

Easy Chair! It has certainly been on wheels 
since our last notes were penned. Let’s see; it was 
Dublin, was it not, from which we sent the last? How 
much we have seen and heard and felt since then! 
From Ireland’s capital we came on an ocean 
freighter, to save a day’s time, to the Isle of Man. 
As we steamed into the port of Douglas at 10 o’clock 
at night, with its semi-circle of colored lights blazing 
out a welcome, it seemed an enchanted spot. The 
smaller Avalon Bay, Catalina Island, was at once 
suggested. At 4 p.m., July 1, we set sail again on 
the ‘‘Empress Queen,’’ one of the fleet steamers 
which run between the island and Liverpool. As on 
the voyage from Dublin to the island, the sea was a 
little rough in the Channel, and many succumbed to 
its disturbing influences, but Mrs. G. and I remained 
on hurricane deck and enjoyed the sail. At 8 0’clock 
we landed at Liverpool, sailing up the Mersey to the 
great floating docks, just as we did nearly thirty 
years ago. At Liverpool we took the electric line 
for Southport, and in an hour’s time we were being 
welcomed to the hospitable home of our friend and 
brother, Joe Coop. Here we rested over Saturday 
in preparation for the work on Lord’s day. It was 
the anniversary of the Sunday school, and special 
music, flower decorations, and the presence of a 
former American pastor and his wife, were the 
features of the day. Many memories of the past 
came to me, and almost overwhelmed me, as I stood 
once more before the church I had so often addressed 


168 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


nearly three decades ago. There rose before me the 
faces of saintly men and women, who since then have 
passed on to the upper sanctuary. 

It is known to many of our readers that the church 
at Southport, under the leadership of Timothy Coop, 
of blessed memory, was the first of our English 
churches to adopt American methods. Brother 
Coop had often visited in America, and once on 
listening to an address at one of our conventions by 
James A. Garfield, afterwards president of the 
United States, became impressed with the conviction 
that a similar spirit of Christian liberty combined 
with the utmost fidelity to the great essentials of 
Christianity, ought to be introduced among the Eng- 
lish churches, and he became a very liberal contrib- 
utor to our foreign missionary work. Already H. 
S. Earl, who had come to England on his own 
charge, was addressing large audiences in South- 
ampton and other places and winning many converts. 
Through Brother Coop’s influence, Brother W. T. 
Moore was induced to resign his great church in 
Cincinnati and come to Southport. He had been 
there a year or more and was opening up a new 
work in Liverpool, when at the instance of the South- 
port church, he wrote, and afterwards cabled, urging 
me to come to Southport, in the winter of 1880-81. 
This is how it came about that the writer was at one 
time the minister of this congregation. Timothy 
Coop’s boys, Joe and Frank, were then faithful 
helpers in the church, as young men. They are now 
leaders in the local and general work in England, 
loyal to the memory of their father, with sons and 
daughters now grown, and some of them married, 
who are walking in the footsteps of their parents. 
Thus a new generation has come on the stage since 
last we were here. Brother Hammond, their present 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU 169 — 


minister, was formerly a Baptist minister, who found 
it no sacrifice of principle, but rather an opportunity 
of greater loyalty to his own ideals, to become 
preacher and pastor for this flock. He is loved and 
respected by the congregation. 


On Monday morning, in company with the Coops, 
the Thomsons, Brothers Hammond, Hundle and 
others, we took the train for London to attend the 
conference on Christian Union, in Caxton Hall, on 
Monday and Tuesday, where several leading min- 
isters of nonconformity took part, and the conference 
at West London Tabernacle on Wednesday, among 
the Disciples of England, America, Scandinavia, and 
our missionaries from several foreign lands. Brother 
Durban, our able English correspondent, has re- 
ported these conferences. There was still another 
conference to be held on the day we left for the con- 
tinent, between representatives of the two groups 
of our English churches—those holding to the old 
methods and stricter interpretations, of the school 
of David King, and other English leaders of that 
type, and those whose practice and teaching are more 
in harmony with the great majority of our Ameri- 
can churches. We were sorry not to be able to at- 
tend this conference, but we had the privilege of 
attending a preliminary meeting and giving what 
advice we could besides sending a letter to the con- 
ference through Brother Frank Coop, suggesting a 
basis of closer co-operation. There is no good reason 
why these two groups of churches should not be in 
fraternal co-operation. Their differences lie clearly 
within the sphere of Christian hberty. Each can be 
true to its convictions as to the best methods of 
work and worship while granting full liberty to 
others to do the same. If this is not possible among 


170 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Christians, all hope of Christian union is a delusive 
dream. 

Our special object in making a week’s tour on the 
continent was to take in the Passion Play at Oberam- 
mergau. The sail across the English Channel, a 
night on a European sleeping car, and a half-day’s 
additional ride brought us to the old city of Munich. 
Saturday morning we went on to Oberammergau, a 
ride on the train of about two hours. The scenery 
along the route is of unfailing interest. The shades 
of color in the crops are as varied as those in 
Joseph’s coat, and the mountains grow higher and 
the valley deeper as we approach the end of our 
journey. As we ascend the Ammer, a swiftly-flowing 
stream, swollen by recent rains, we come in sight of 
the Bavarian Alps, whose deep crevices are filled 
with snow. Soon we pass Unterammergau and in a 
few minutes more the famous little Bavarian village 
of Oberammergau, with its red-tiled roofs, its 
quaintly built houses, its narrow, crooked streets, is 
seen nestling in the mountains, on the tallest crag 
of which stands a cross, dominating all the landscape. 
We landed there in the rain, and were conducted 
to the home of one of the villagers, Anton Zwinck, 
where we had been assigned. The skies continued 
to drip all afternoon, but this did not prevent us 
from walking to and fro through the crowded 
streets of the quaintest of mountain villages. 

Sunday, July 10, dawned fair and bright, and the 
sunshine lay upon the surrounding mountains like 
a heavenly benediction. The ringing of the early 
church bells, together with the tinkling of innumer- 
able cow-bells, as the village cows marched sedately 
through the streets to their Alpine pastures, formed 
a concourse of sweet sounds which filled our waking 
moments. Soon after seven, the breakfast hour, the 


IRELAND AND OBERAMMERGAU sya? 


streets were crowded with an eager throng, speak- 
ing in many tongues but having a common destina- 
tion—the theater in which the world’s greatest 
tragedy was to be represented, in harmony with a 
custom that has come down through past centuries. 
By 8 o’clock the large auditorium, seating more than 
four thousand people, was completely filled, and the 
boom of cannon without announcing the beginning. 
The seats, sloping upward from the immense stage 
to the rear, are under cover of an arched roof, sixty 
feet in height, while the stage itself, with its singers 
and hundreds of actors, is under the open heavens, 
with the green mountains and blue sky in full view 
of the audience. The performance began at eight 
and closed at six in the evening, with two-hour in- 
termission at noon. We shall attempt no description 
of this truly remarkable drama. A fast train 
brought us through the fairest portion of Germany, 
with its ripening harvest, its green meadows, where 
the women were at work with the hay, through 
Nuremberg and Cologne, where we crossed the 
Rhine, and where our young friend, Thomson, left 
us, we going on to Paris, and through the lowlands 
of Holland to Flushing, where we once more com- 
mitted ourselves to the tender mercies of the Eng- 
lish Channel, which, to its credit be it recorded, was 
as smooth as a mill pond. We had a delightful 
voyage and reached London and our hotel in time 
for supper, and to complete these paragraphs, which 
were begun in Munich. We spent only a few days 
hereabouts, sailing for Montreal on the 21st inst. 
Our next Easy Chair will be written on the great 
‘‘Herring Pond,’’ homeward bound. 

We were absent on this second Kuropean visit 
about two months and returned in time to spend a 
part of our summer vacation at Pentwater on Lake 
Michigan. 


CHAPTER XVII 


SuMMER HoMES AND VACATION TRIPS 
MACATAWA AND PENTWATER 


THE mention of Pentwater suggests a chapter in my 
life which perhaps deserves a place in this autobiog- 
raphy. Some one who has followed my life thus far 
may raise the question, ‘‘When did you rest?’’ An 
editor has very little time to rest, for when he is not 
actually writing, he is studying what most needs to 
be written about and what he should say about it 
and what others have written. But I was not only 
an editor but a preacher, as well, and was constantly 
being called upon to preach on special occasions far 
and near, such as conventions—county, district, 
state, and national—revival meetings, funerals, 
church dedications, ete. In the course of time this 
constant drain on my nervous energy began to have 
its inevitable effect, and I began to plan, with my 
doctor’s advice, for some rest. 

In the summer of 1889 I rented a cottage at 
Macatawa Park, at that time a new and small resort 
on the eastern shore of Lake Michigan, near the little 
city of Holland, Michigan. Within a year or two, 
I built a cottage which was our summer home for 
about fifteen years. The fishing was good in those 
early days, and I divided my time between the pen 
and the fishing-rod. The many installments of the 
Easy Chair written there during those years, under 
the sub-title ‘‘Macatawa Musings,’’ bear testimony 
-to my attachment to this place and to my delight in 
its beauty of lake and woods. 

But the course of development and ‘‘improve- 
ment’’ gradually made Macatawa too populous and 

172 


SUMMER HOMES AND VACATION TRIPS Reo 


crowded for the quiet which I needed. In 1904, after 
a little exploration, I located another place further 
up the lake, about 75 or 80 miles north, near the 
little village of Pentwater, which was at the head 
of an arm of the bay that reached inland, and far 
enough away not to bother us. There, on hills over- 
looking the lake and covered with pine and hemlock 
trees, I secured a forty-acre tract of land. I took in 
with myself as partners in this purchase, W. J. Hal- 
lack, T. T. Crittenden, J. L. Brandt, and C. A. Young. 
Later the tract was subdivided into about one hun- 
dred lots and the ‘‘Garrison Park Association’’ was 
formed on such terms that each cottage owner might 
become a stockholder in the association. I had built 
for myself and family a frame cottage down close to 
the lake with only a clump of hemlock trees between 
us and the water. These we trimmed up so as not to 
obstruct our view of the lake while sitting on the 
broad verandah of our cottage which we christened 
‘The Pioneer.’’ We proceeded to improve the park 
and it soon became, and is yet, an almost ideal sum- 
mer resort. Of course the ‘‘Hasy Chair’’ advertised 
it as such and it brought in a desirable class of 
cottagers, as ‘‘HMasy Chair’’ readers would naturally 
be! And we had a most happy colony of friends 
who spent their time mostly in resting, bathing, 
swimming, fishing and swapping fish-stories. Here 
we spent our summers mainly for about ten years 
until we decided to remove to southern California, 
keeping up, of course, our editorial contributions to 
the paper. We had made a few visits to the sun- 
kissed western coast and found there a climate that 
did not require removal to the north in summer and 
to the south in winter and in 1914 we decided to 
make this land our future home. 


174 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


AN EXPEDITION TO ALASKA 


From Portland where our International Conven- 
tion held its sessions in July, 1911, a party of us 
decided to make a discursion into Alaska, not to 
search for gold as many had already done, but to 
explore Uncle Sam’s new territory. The following 
is condensed from the account of the journey which 
appeared in ‘‘The Editor’s Easy Chair’’ in The 
Christian-Evangelist, at the time: 

A starlit evening, with the round, red face of the 
moon rising above the horizon line, the evening star 
blazing over the Olympian Range, and the electric 
lights of the city of Seattle receding behind us as 
the steamship ‘‘The Queen’’ moved out of the harbor 
and turned its prow to the northwest—such was our 
poetic and picturesque parting from the pier at 
Seattle for our Alaskan voyage. Many friends, in- 
cluding some of the delegates to the Portland Con- 
vention, came with us to the boat to wave us a bon 
voyage from the shore. Never did a vessel weigh 
anchor and begin its voyage under more favoring 
conditions. Our immediate party consists of eight 
persons: R.A. Doan, wife and son Austin, of Nelson- 
ville, O.; Oreon E. Scott, of St. Louis; Mrs. Stacy, of 
Richmond, Va.; and the editor and his wife and 
granddaughter Judith. Other delegates to the Con- 
vention, including John EK. Pounds and wife, are in 
another vessel which sailed a little in advance of us, 
and which is making substantially the same trip. 
‘‘The Queen’’ is substituted for the ill-fated steamer, 
‘‘The Spokane,’’ recently wrecked, on which we had 
engaged our rooms. This circumstance has, no 
doubt, cut down the passenger list to some extent, 
though it has a fair quota of passengers—about one 
hundred and thirty-five. It is capable of carrying 


SUMMER HOMES AND VACATION TRIPS 175 


over two hundred. It carries only cabin passengers, 
and caters to that class who are making the round- 
trip to see the country and to enjoy the voyage. 
Alaska is a part of our national domain which most 
of our citizens have never seen. Our party is of that 
number, and we purpose, providence permitting, to 
get such a glimpse of it as this voyage to Skagway 
and return can afford. 

Here is Victoria, where we arrived early this 
morning, and where we remain till 11 a.m. We have 
only a limited time in which to see this capital city 
of Vancouver Island. We are now in British waters, 
and this is the capital of British Columbia. Within 
our own memory this voyage would have been in the 
nature of a journey into the region of the unknown. 
The discovery of gold, however, has drawn thou- 
sands of our citizens to Alaska who never would 
have seen it otherwise, and has builded cities and 
railroads and is making it the home of our American 
civilization. The development of Alaska has been 
one of the causes of the marvelous growth of Seattle. 
But there are other contributing causes which have 
made these cities of the Sound—Seattle and Tacoma 
—the prosperous centers they are. The rapidly-de- 
veloping Northwest has made these cities a necessity. 
What a development this region has had! 

We are now four days out from Seattle. This 
morning at about 8 o’clock the steamer blew three 
whistles to announce that we were just passing the 
line from British Columbia into Uncle Sam’s terri- 
tory, Alaska. As the passengers were assembled in 
the social room awaiting breakfast at the time, I 
proposed and led in the singing of ‘‘ America.’’ And 
yet it would be difficult to tell by any external marks 
which is British and which American soil. We are 
having a really delightful voyage so far. The 


176 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


weather seems to have been made to order—clear, 
bright, with just enough twang in the air to make it a 
tonic, and to make overcoats and sweaters comtort- 
able morning and evening. The ‘‘Queen’’ is proving 
a very comfortable, well-managed vessel, and we 
have a very agreeable and pleasant company of pas- 
sengers. The scenery has been all and more than we 
eould have anticipated, and sufficiently variegated 
to prevent any monotony. At one time the channel 
is narrow, and the. ship moves along between 
precipitous, snow-covered mountains which seem to 
close in ahead of us and make further progress im- 
possible; but as we go ahead an opening is dis- 
covered, and the vessel continues its winding course 
amid waterfalls that dash themselves into foam as 
they rush down the mountain-sides into the deep 
salt-water channel which is one of the mighty 
Pacific’s arms reaching up into the fastnesses of 
these everlasting hills. Then the channel widens in- 
to what seems an inland sea, dotted here and there 
with wooded islands or with bare rocks which lft 
their heads above the water. Frequent lighthouses 
mark the channel, and how lonely must be the lives 
their keepers live! The mountains are covered with 
what seems to be a thick growth of dwarf spruce 
and pine. The water is very quiet for the most part; 
it is only when it is exposed, at places, to the direct 
action of the ocean that the vessel feels something of 
an ocean swell. The narrower the passage becomes 
the more interesting it is, and the more rugged and 
wild the scenery. Here and there a lumber camp, 
an Indian village, and an occasional passing vessel 
are the only signs of life in this wild and inhospitable 
region. 

Naturally there was a good deal of curiosity to see 
the scene of the wreck of the ‘‘Spokane,’’ on which 


SUMMER HOMES AND VACATION TRIPS 177 


many of us had engaged our passage. The place is 
known as ‘‘Seymour Narrows,’’ and we passed it at 
one o’clock in the morning. Nevertheless some of 
us remained up and others got up at that hour to see 
the narrow gorge where the mainland of British 
Columbia erowds down so close to Vancouver’s 
Island as to leave only a very narrow passage for the 
large body of water that flows through it. The tide 
rises thirteen feet at its flood, and when it is flowing 
it is difficult to manage a vessel in it. It is the rule, 
we learn, not to attempt the passage except when the 
tide is low, or when it has reached its height, so that 
the current is not flowing so rapidly. On the night 
we passed it the frowning cliffs, which rose abruptly 
on either side, and the channel between were 
illuminated by the moon, which was about three 
hours high. The Great Dipper hung above the chasm 
and the North Star showed that we were going a few 
points west of north in the Narrows. A stiff cool 
breeze blew from the north, but silence prevailed 
except the swish of the current against the vessel 
and the signal bells and machinery answering there- 
to. ‘‘ Just there to the right,’’ said an officer to us, 
‘“is where the ‘Spokane’ hit the rocks.’’ ‘*You have 
not slackened your speed much,’’ we remarked. 
‘*No,’’ he said, ‘‘we can control the vessel better 
when it is making fairly good speed.’’ The captain 
was on the bridge, the pilot was at the wheel and 
every member of the crew was lined up at his post 
for duty. The lifeboats were suspended over the 
edge of the boat, ready to be lowered instantly if 
needed. But they were not needed. The good ship 
passed safely through the narrow channel, and a 
short distance beyond, in a small bay, lay the wreck 
of the ‘‘Spokane,’’ with the lights shining from the 
wrecking vessel that is seeking to raise it. Said one 


178 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


of the passengers, pointing to the light: ‘‘That is 
where I was a few nights ago, for I was on the 
‘Spokane’ when she met with her disaster.’’ We all 
breathed a little more freely when the channel was 
passed, and we laid us down and slept the sleep of 
peace and trust. Since then we have passed through 
many channels, with mountains to the right of us 
and mountains to the left of us, lifting their snowy 
heads above us, without a thought of danger. 

These lines are penned just as the ship is pulling 
out of Ketchikan, a port of entry where we landed 
at 11 a.m. and remained until 3 p.m. Ketchikan 
is a considerable town, with its hotels, churches, 
stores and fishing cannery, picturesquely located at 
the feet of snow-capped mountains. The Stars and 
Stripes floating in the breeze and a boy on the wharf 
selling the Saturday Evening Post, made us feel we 
were landing on American soil. 

Our next stop was at Metakhatla, in the island of 
Annette, where Rev. Wiliam Duncan is conducting 
a mission among the Tsimskean Indians. Father 
Duncan has been laboring here fifty-five years, being 
now eighty years of age. The island has been given 
to him and his Indians. They were a hostile, blood- 
thirsty, savage and cruel tribe when he came among 
them from England in his young manhood. He has 
a cathedral-like church, which is the most con- 
spicuous figure in the landscape as the ship ap- 
proaches the island. We visited the salmon cannery, 
which is the principal industry of the island, though 
he has taught them several useful trades. They 
built the church with their own hands. While in the 
building we were surprised to find it designated as 
the ‘‘Metakhatla Christian Church.’’ When the old 
man spoke to us in the town hall, he explained how, 
when he landed here among these savages, he found 


ee ee 


SUMMER HOMES AND VACATION TRIPS 179 


he could do nothing but preach the simple gospel 
of Christ. One of the old chiefs said to him on his 
arrival, ‘‘Have you any letter from God?’’ When 
the missionary said he had a book from God, the 
chief asked: ‘‘Does this book of God tell God’s 
heart toward us?’’ When answered that it does, 
and that it is a heart of love, the old chief was ready 
to welcome him and extend all the aid he could. 
Mr. Duncan came here as a layman of the Episcopal 
Church, but in answer to our inquiry he said, ‘‘I 
soon found I could not preach Episcopalianism, nor 
any other ism. I could only preach and teach Christ 
and Christianity pure and simple. We don’t need 
any sectarianism here on this island.’’ ‘*We don’t 
need it among the whites,’’ we said, ‘‘and we are now 
trying to get rid of it and to be one in Christ.’’ 
‘*Yes,’’ he replied, ‘‘I tell my Indians the white peo- 
ple are beginning to follow our example, and it 
pleases them very much.’’ It is sad to add that the 
church under whose auspices this brave-hearted mis- 
slonary came out has disowned his labors, and that 
he is now conducting his mission independently. 
Our passengers left him a liberal contribution, as no 
doubt the passengers of other vessels do that visit 
this remarkable man and his mission. 

Our vessel tarried only one day at Skagway, and 
most of this time was occupied with our railroad 
trip to Lake Bennett, the headwaters of the Yukon. 
The remaining few hours of the day were devoted 
to doing the town of Skagway, and in the evening 
the ‘‘Queen’’ began her return voyage. 

In these northern regions distance is most de- 
ceiving. Everything is on a large scale. The moun- 
tains, the gorges, the cataracts, the glaciers, the ice- 
bergs—all give one the impression of bigness. 
Alaska itself is immense in its geographical extent. 


180 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


containing 586,400 square miles, an area equal to 
several of our ordinary states. Its resources are 
beyond computation. It is said that it has more 
gold than California, Australia, or South Africa; 
that it has more coal than Pennsylvania; that its 
fish excel the fisheries of the entire Atlantic Coast. 
It has more copper than all the United States be- 
sides, and more furs than any other region in the 
world. Besides that, it has millions of acres of farm- 
ing and grazing lands that are even unsurveyed as 
yet. 

It was a fine lot of passengers we had aboard the 
‘*@ueen,’’ consisting largely of physicians, school- 
teachers, business men, a few artists, and one min- 
ister, who is also an editor. We came to know each 
other very well, and the spirit of fraternity and 
equality prevailed. The second Sunday out we were 
requested again by the passengers to conduct reli- 
gious services in the forenoon. The ship was 
scheduled to reach Queen Charlotte Sound on Sun- 
day morning at eleven o’clock, and it was expected 
that the passage for a few hours would be rather 
rough. We could not get possession of the dining- 
room until 10:30, and we sought to compress the 
entire service as nearly as possible within half an 
hour. A forty-minute sermon was compressed into 
twenty minutes, and the other part of the service 
abbreviated accordingly. At the close there were 
some resolutions passed which, by request, we had 
prepared, expressing our appreciation of the services 
of the officers, and our sympathy for the brave crew 
who had lost their personal property on the 
‘‘Spokane’’ in their efforts to save the lives and 
property of the passengers, most of whom were now 
serving on the ‘‘Queen,’’ and for whom a liberal 
offering of about $120 was taken. ‘‘Coronation”’ 


SUMMER HOMES AND VACATION TRIPS 181 


was announced as the closing hymn. By this time 
the boat was rolling and some of the passengers were 
getting pale. When the second line was reached, 
‘‘Let angels prostrate fall,’’ the ship gave a lurch 
and the choir saw the humor of the situation, as some 
of the female ‘‘angels’’ were almost ‘‘ prostrate’’ be- 
fore Neptune. However, all felt that the service had 
been helpful, and many of the passengers were in- 
terested to know the ecclesiastical relationship of the 
minister who on two Sundays could preach so un- 
denominational a gospel! 


At Vancouver, on July 24, the ‘‘Queen’’ landed 
and divided her list of passengers, most of whom 
left the vessel there for the Canadian Pacific, and 
the others going on to Seattle. Our party were 
among those who ended their cruise at this growing 
Canadian metropolis of the Pacific Coast, where we 
spent a day in sight-seeing, and then on through 
the Canadian scenery of western Canada, with brief 
stops at Laggan, Banff, Winnipeg, and Minneapolis, 
where there was another separation, the Garrisons 
and Doans going on to Pentwater. 


CHAPTER XVIII 


SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY 


Amone my old papers, I find a document entitled, 
‘‘Programme: Services in Appreciation of Dr. J. 
H. Garrison on His Seventieth Birthday, by Union 
Avenue Christian Church, Friday Evening, Febru- 
ary 2, 1912, F. E. Udell Presiding.’’ On the follow- 
ing page is my photograph. After a musical pro- 
gramme, there came this order of exercises: 


Address: ‘‘Church Leader and Statesman,’’ by 
Dr. W. F. Richardson, Pastor First Christian 
Church, Kansas City. 


Address: ‘‘Editor and Author,’’ by Dr. W. R. 
Warren, Editor The Christian-Evangelist. 

Address: ‘‘Church Member and Officer,’’ B. A. 
Abbott, Pastor Union Avenue Christian Church. 


Response: Dr. J. H. Garrison. 
Informal Greetings and Social. 


I have no record of what these good brethren said 
in their addresses, but I am sure from the warm 
personal friendship existing between them and my- 
self, that what they said would not bear printing— 
in an autobiography. I do not recall my response, 
except that it took the form of a poem which, by 
some good or ill fortune, has managed to survive 
the wreck of time. But it was an occasion which we 
hold in dear remembrance and which has served, 
not only to mark my seventieth anniversary, and 
the formal vacation of my position as editor of The 
Christian-Evangelist which I had so long held, but 
our removal to the western coast was also in con- 

182 


SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY 183 


templation and added to the feeling of the evening. 
And then our connection with the dear old Union 
Avenue Church, had been long and pleasant, with 
such ideal pastors as J. M. Philputt and B. A. 
Abbott, now succeeded by George A. Campbell, and 
with such officials and prominent members as the 
Udells, the MceCanns, the Clarksons, the Grants, the 
Thomsons, the Scotts, the Tills, the Pattersons, the 
Colemans, and a host of others, of like spirit, who 
could but lay the foundation of a great historic 
church. 

But here is the Response to these congratulatory 
and complimentary addresses by three of my dearest 
friends, which I must have preceded with a more 
humane and intelligible form of expression of my 
appreciation: 


At Seventy: A Protest 


What means this good-natured assembly— 
This gathering of friends tried and true; 
These speeches, this music, these greetings— 
What’s the reason for all this ado? 


Do you say I am growing quite aged, 

That I’ve reached my three score and ten— 
The time announced by the psalmist 

As bounding the lifetime of men? 


But that was way back in times ancient, 
Before Christ, the Life-giver, arrived. 
Think you not His science of living, 
Should teach men to be longer-lived? 


True, my hair has grown grayer and thinner, 
Time’s plowshare has furrowed my brow; 

But my heart is as young and buoyant, 

As when farmer-boy guiding the plow. 


184 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Age is not a mere matter of years, friends. 
Would you know how old one has grown? 
You can judge by his thoughts and his spirit: 
By these is one’s real age made known. 


He is old whose heart has grown callous 
To the needs and burdens of men; 

Whose mental accounts have been balanced, 
Though he be only ove score and ten. 


He is young whose heart is responsive 
To the thoughts and tasks of our day, 
Whose mind’s ever open to progress— 
Though he’s lived seven decades, and is gray. 


With this much admitted as certain, 

I am going to risk being bold: 

I’d rather be seventy years young, friends, 
Than be only forty years old. 


The years of my life have fled swiftly, 
So busy my hands and my heart, 

Nor am I impatient to die, yet, 

Until I have finished my part. 


My life from my youth, though quite varied, 
Has been guided by one constant aim— 
To win His ‘‘well done’’ in life’s contest, 
And observe all the rules of the game. 


"Twas farmer-lad, schoolboy and teacher, 
Then soldier, till Union was saved, 

And the starry flag of our country, 

In triumph o’er all the land waved. 


Then the years of hard work at college 
Where wisdom and wife were both won: 
Then minister, editor, author— 

In these lines my life-course has run. 


SEVENTIETH BIRTHDAY 185 


The road has been steep and quite rugged, 
And thorns have oft wounded my feet; 
But God has been good to me, always, 
And the friendships of life very sweet. 


The cup of my life has been mingled 
With sorrow as well as with joy; 

But He knoweth best what to send us, 
To purge our life’s gold from alloy. 


Through the toilsome part of my journey, 
One true heart my welfare has sought, 
Without whose unfailing devotion 

My life-work could not have been wrought. 


The honors of this celebration 

Are hers quite as much as my own; 

By her thoughtful and kind ministration 
She’s the power beside the throne. 


I’m willing to go when He calls me, 

Yet would welcome a few years more 

To round out the work He’s assigned me, 
Eire I pass to the evergreen shore. 


Some people imagine that youth-time, 
Is the only bright spot in life’s way, 
And that age is a thing to be dreaded, 
With its years all somber and gray. 


But age brings its own compensations: 

It’s the fruit-time of all the past years; 

While Mem’ry and Hope—God’s bright angels— 
Dispel all its sadness and fears. 


From the hill-top of age one beholdeth 
The City that heth foursquare; 

While the landscapes of earth, all about us, 
To youth never seemed half so fair. 


186 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


I love the blue skies and bright sunshine, 
The stars, the birds and the flowers; 
I love the bright faces of children— 
Fairest scenes in this fair world of ours. 


But what I should like most to live for, 
Even though I be three score and ten, 

Is to help sad hearts bear their burdens 
With voice, or with deed, or with pen. 


It is glorious to live, and labor, 

And to do God’s work with a zest; 
But ’tis sweet, when eventide cometh, 
To go home to our Father, and rest. 


What God wills for me in the future, 

I know not, nor care I to know; 

’Tis enough to know that He leadeth: 
Where He leads, there J wish to go. 


The fond hope of my heart is this, friends, 
That when life’s bitter conflicts are o’er, 

We shall meet in Christ’s presence, up yonder, 
To be severed again—nevermore! 


CHAPTER XIX 


Gorinc WEST | 


THe year following my resignation as editor of The 
Christian-Evangelist I prepared five lectures en- 
titled, (1) ‘‘ Place of Religion in the Life of Man’’; 
fj lacesor Ghrist in Kelicion’:7(3)) 7elacevor 
the Bible in Christianity’’; (4) Place of the Church 
in Christ’s Plan’’; (5).‘‘ Place and Progress of the 
Kingdom of God.’’ These lectures were prepared 
in response to an invitation from the Board of Trus- 
tees of the Thos. E. Bondurant Foundation. A 
committee of the Board of Trustees of Eureka Col- 
lege had chosen me to deliver these lectures before 
the students of the college. This 1913 series of 
lectures were delivered also at the University of 
Illinois and at other places. It was the plan of the 
Bondurant Foundation to have the lectures pub- 
lished in book form. These lectures were published, 
in 1918, by the Christian Board of Publication, St. 
Louis, under the title, ‘‘Place of Religion in the 
Life of Man.’’ 

This was the last of a series of books I had writ- 
ten in connection with my editorial labors, as fol- 
Lows. jes, Alone. With. God’’;)*(2)\\¢Helpss to 
aie (3 )puebhe: Holy Spirit?) s (4). naltytiour 
Studies at the Cross’’; (5) ‘‘Heavenward Way’’; 
(6) ‘‘A Modern Plea for Ancient Truths’’; (7) ‘‘The 
Old Faith Restated’’ (edited); (8) ‘‘The Story of a 
Century,’’ written at the completion of one hundred 
years of our history as a religious movement; (9) 
‘‘Reformation of the Nineteenth Century’’ (edited) ; 
(10) ‘‘Our First Congress’’ (edited) ; (11) ‘‘ Rightly 
Dividing the Word”’ (tract) ; (12) ‘‘ Congregationa!- 

187 


188 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


ists and Disciples’? (pamphlet); (13) ‘‘Union and 
Victory’’ (tract); (14) ‘‘The Disciples of Christ’’ 
(tract); (15) ‘‘Higher Criticism’’ (pamphlet); (16) 
‘‘Our Movement: Its Origin and Aim’’; (17) 
‘‘A Nineteenth Century Movement’’; (18) ‘‘The 
World’s Need of Our Plea’’; (19) ‘‘The Place of 
Religion in the Life of Man’’; to which is now to be 
added this autobiography which may or may not be 
my last. 

These books grew*out of my experience, and my 
conviction as to the needs of the cause I was seek- 
ing to promote. Some of them have had wide cir- 
culation. ‘‘Alone with God’’ is now in its twenty- 
sixth edition. It was translated into Chinese by a 
native convert sixteen years ago and is being circu- 
lated as a devotional book in that country. The 
book on ‘‘The Holy Spirit’’ I felt to be greatly 
needed among our people; it is the only book on that 
subject among us, so far as I know. It has not had 
the circulation which I had hoped for it. Others 
have fared better. But such as they are, and con- 
taining the best thought of my life, they are com- 
mitted to that public which has always been so 
generous and charitable towards all my writings. 


WESTWARD Ho! 


Now that my editorial duties no longer required 
me in the office in St. Louis I had the opportunity of 
fulfilling a desire I had long cherished of moving 
to California. I had made a few preliminary 
visits to Southern California, where our youngest 
son, W. EK. Garrison, had established a School for 
Boys, and where we had placed our granddaughter, 
whom we had raised (now Mrs. E. Paul Young), in 
Pomona College. It is easy to catch the California 
habit when you make a few visits here. We had 


GOING WEST 189 


gotten the Southern California germ and in 1914 we 
removed to that part of the state locating first in 
Claremont, the seat of Pomona College, a pleasant 
town near the little city whose name the college 
bears. It proved a very desirable community of ex- 
cellent people, most of whom had been attracted 
there by the college, as we had been. 

It was during our stay in Claremont that we came 
to the fiftieth anniversary of our marriage, and I 
find the following record of it in the ‘‘Easy Chair’’ 
of The Christian-Evangelist of July 18, 1918: 

The second, as well as the Fourth of July, has been 
a memorable day this week, in our personal annals. 
The golden wedding was much more successful than 
we could have anticipated from the short notice we 
had given. We had hoped to be back in St. Louis 
for the observance of the fiftieth anniversary of our 
marriage, but as circumstances made this impossible, 
we hesitated about undertaking it out here on the 
coast, but in view of the fact that 1t never comes but 
once we decided to observe it, and sent out notices 
to a few friends in this and in other states more 
remote. The notice was so short that many of those 
farther away had to send their messages by wire. 
We also had a stack of letters from dear friends. 
These messages will be handed down as a part of 
the heirloom we shall bequeath to our children and 
grandchildren. It is fortunate that each of us has 
within him a monitor which reminds us how far we 
have fallen short of our own ideals, lest we might 
be led to think of ourselves more highly than we 
ought to think, by such appreciative words. Never- 
theless my wife and I prize most highly the good 
words that have been expressed about our happy 
relationship in our married life and how we have 
supplemented each other, until our personalities 


190 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


have coalesced into a unity which is no doubt the 
divine intention of the institution of marriage. Cer- 
tain I am that whatever I have been able to accom- 
plish, whether as editor or minister, has been made 
possible by those home conditions and influences 
which she has supplied and by that love and per- 
sonal sympathy with my work, without which no 
man achieves the highest and best of which he is 
capable. The wife’s part is often ignored, because 
she is not so much in the public eye as her husband, 
but it has been a gratification to me, that in the 
kindly messages which have come to us on this oc- 
casion, the wife’s part has been recognized and 
appreciated. But what about the occasion itself? 
It was an ideal evening. ‘There were present 
about seventy-five or eighty persons. These con- 
sisted of some of the leading men of the town, such 
as President Blaisdell of Pomona College, and 
several of his faculty, Dr. Sumner and Dr. Campbell, 
both veterans, and our immediate neighbors, to- 
gether with friends from Pomona, Los Angeles, Ful- 
lerton, Long Beach, Highlands, Pasadena, Van Nuys, 
ete. Many of these were old-time friends, such as 
the Chapmans, the Dowlings, the Coopers, the Rich- 
ardsons, the Tyrrells, the Meiers, the Rogers, the 
Brownings, the Bagbys, and Holts, Dr. and Mrs. Dye, 
Brother George A. Miller and Miss Mary Gowans. 
In the receiving line besides Mrs. G. and myself, were 
Mrs. W. E. Garrison and their son Frederic, who rep- 
resented his father, who after a recent illness was 
not strong enough to stand in line but was able to 
be present a little while. Miss Gowans sang appro- 
priate songs, ‘‘Long, Long Ago’’ and ‘‘Believe Me 
If All Those Endearing Young Charms,’’ the 
popular wedding song. At this point Brother Rich- 
ardson spoke a few words, and said while he could 


GOING WEST 191 


not read all the telegrams, he wanted to read one 
received from the Union Avenue Christian Church, 
St. Louis, of which the bride and groom of the eve- 
ning had been members nearly all their married 
lives, or 46 years. The telegram was authorized by 
the church assembled for worship by a rising vote 
and was signed by B. A. Abbott, former pastor, and 
Palmer Clarkson of the official board, conveying ‘‘a 
thousand golden wishes for your golden wedding 
from your more than thousand friends in the 
church.’’ It was a beautiful thing to do, but was 
characteristic of the dear old church. Dr. Richard- 
son remarked that the muse often moved me on such 
occasions, and if I had anything of the kind to 
bring it forth. I read these verses: 


Our Golden Wedding Day 


Two score and ten, they tell us, wife, 
Have been our years of wedded life! 
How swift the flying years have sped 
Since that bright day when we were wed! 


When first we met three years before, 
The clouds of war had just rolled o’er. 
I searce had doffed my suit of blue. 

In college halls I first met you. 


Not many moons had rolled around, 
Before we each the other found. 
This was the richest mine of ore 
I found in all my search for lore. 


When college closed in ’68 

We knew quite well our mutual fate: 
Whate’er we’d do, where’er we’d go, 
We’d share each other’s weal or woe. 


192 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Ah! that was in life’s beauteous morn, 

When our life-plans were still unborn! 
But all the world seemed wondrous fair 
And we could work ‘‘most anywhere.’’ 


The dreams we had in those young years 
Had in them neither doubts nor fears. 

The world was wide and we were strong, 
And forth we went with joy and song. 


The Unseen Hand that guides our ways— 
To whom we now lift grateful praise— 
Soon found a field of service, where 

Men’s toils and burdens we could share. 


This field had thorns as well as flowers; 
No easy task was that of ours; 

But He who gave us work to do 

Has been our help life’s journey through. 


And so, dear wife, we’ve stuck together 
Through all kinds of wind and weather. 
From this one aim we would not swerve: 
God put us in this world to serve. 


Altho’ the way’s been hard and long, 
And tears have mingled with our song, 
These count for naught if in our day 
We’ve shed love’s light along the way. 


If we have made some lives more bright, 
If we have helped the blind to sight, 

If we have strengthened some faint heart 
To keep up hope and do its part— 


If aided by the Power above, 

We’ve helped advance the cause we love, 
I’en when some conflict was involved, 
Yet, if the problems have been solved,— 


GOING WEST 193 


This compensates for all our pain; 

We have not lived and wrought in vain. 
Whatever good we may have done, 

Is due to this: we’ve worked as one. 


How grateful are our hearts today 

For all the friends who’ve cheered our way, 
And those who greet us here tonight 

With loving hearts and faces bright. 


That larger host throughout the land 
Whose cheering words and helpful hand 
Have strengthened us in life’s hard fight— 
God bless them every one tonight! 


And now, my dear, let’s join right hands, 
To solemnize these golden bands; 

The love which made our hearts to blend 
Will keep us till the journey’s end. 


Miss Gowans led us in ‘‘Auld Lang Syne’’ fol- 
lowed by the old song which has touched so many 
hearts, and which wife and I had sung back in the 
old college days when we were members of the 
college glee club: ‘*When You and I Were Young, 
Maggie!’’ The bride and groom of fifty years 
joined in the chorus: 


But now we are aged and gray, Maggie, 
The trials of life nearly done; 

Let us sing of the days that are gone, Maggie, 
When you and I were young. 


Brother W. H. Bagby then read some beautiful 
lines he had prepared for the occasion. Dr. J. M. 
Campbell, my old friend, then read some resolutions 
of congratulation, representing our local Afternoon 
Club of which he and I are members. After a few 
words of thanks to the friends present and absent 


194 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


by the writer, Miss Gowans sang one of my favorite 
songs, ‘‘The End of a Perfect Day,’’ and the visitors 
had their way again till a late hour. 

An unexpected feature occurred at the close. The 
municipal band appeared in front of the house and 
played several airs. 

Soon after our granddaughter’s graduation from 
Pomona College and marriage we moved to Los 
Angeles with the view of making it our permanent 
home while we remained in the state, and probably 
while we remain in the body. So we purchased a 
bungalow there that was nearing completion and as 
soon as it was finished we moved into it and became 
citizens of the City of Los Angeles and of the 
‘Golden West.’’ It seemed the natural thing to do, 
as the sun of our life was westering, to come nearer 
to where the god of day sinks behind the Pacific 
and where the climate is milder and where the sun- 
shine knows no seasons. The grandchildren and 
great-grandchildren, who lived here at the time, 
have since removed to Chicago as did also our son, 
who was teaching near Claremont. It seems to us, 
however, too late in life for us to follow our children 
and grandchildren, and especially to return where 
the climate is less adapted to people of advanced 
years. But this separation involved a great sacrifice. 
We have no near kinsfolk near us now, but no one 
ever had warmer and truer friends than we have 
found here, or formed here, all of whom seem 
anxious to do all they ean for our comfort and en- 
joyment. While having no immediate kin near us, 
I should state that we have in Hollywood, a near-by 
section of our great city, our very dear and old-time 
friend of half a century, Dr. W. F. Richardson, who, 
with his daughter, Olive, lives there where he has 
been pastor of the church for eight years, during 


GOING WEST 195 


which time the church has erected its splendid new 
building. He has now resigned his pastorate. We 
have also, as our near neighbor, our old-time friend 
and erstwhile pastor, in St. Louis, Frank G. Tyrrell, 
preacher, lawyer, Bible teacher, who, with his 
family, are more than neighbors; they are helpers. 
Perhaps I ought also to add among our old-time 
friends the names of the Chapman Brothers, C. C. 
and S. J. who were small boys in Macomb, Illinois 
at the beginning of my editorial career, C. C. having 
been an office boy for a time in the printing office 
where our monthly magazine was published. They 
are both now prosperous and prominent citizens of 
Los Angeles, for whose development they have done 
much, though C. C. hag his residence near the sub- 
urban town of Fullerton. Their friendship is stead- 
fast, and highly prized. I formed the acquaintance 
of Bro. Richardson at Quincy, Illinois, when I was 
publishing the paper in that city, and where he was 
working in the printing establishment run by a rela- 
tive of his where the paper was printed, and where 
he assisted in the mailing of it. This was when he 
was about eighteen years of age and before he en- 
tered Eureka College. The friendship thus begun 
has been strengthened by the years. 


If it please God, who has been so gracious to me 
in sparing my life for a longer time than I have 
anticipated, to permit me to finish this work I am 
now engaged in, which is a sort of condensed sketch 
of a long and busy life, it will probably be my last 
contribution in the way of books that I shall ever 
write, though I will make no rash promise that it 
is the last. That I have been enabled by His help 
to write and publish so many volumes in the midst 
of my editorial work and while preaching almost 


196 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


constantly on the Lord’s Day, is a matter for which 
I am profoundly grateful. 

This is, of course, an abbreviated sketch of my 
life. It is perhaps a gracious provision of Provi- 
dence that as one grows older in years one’s memory 
grows weaker, for that enables one to forget some 
of the errors and mistakes of his past life as well 
as those deeds which his friends have regarded as 
meritorious. At any rate I am sure that anyone who 
reads this condensed sketch of my life by my own 
hand, must do a great deal of reading between the 
lines in order to obtain anything like a well-rounded 
view of that life. The one consoling fact, as I look 
back over my life, is that I have given my life, with 
whatever ability I may have possessed, whole- 
heartedly to the cause of Christ; and the one regret 
is that I could not have done more for healing the 
hurt of my people and for the comfort of the 
wounded hearts and lives of my fellowmen. I shall . 
continue my contributions to The Christian-Evan- 
geltst under the title of the ‘‘Kasy Chair’’ as long 
as Iam able and as long as the editors of that paper 
graciously permit them to appear. 

I am not losing sight of the fact that as one 
passes the ordinary term of human life and a new 
generation of active workers come upon the stage 
he must necessarily lose some of the prestige and 
influence which he possessed in former years and 
become more or less a stranger to those who are 
doing the work and bearing the responsibilities in 
which he once shared. As there grew up in the olden 
time a generation which ‘‘knew not Joseph,’’ so it 
must be with everyone who has a more or less im- 
portant place in the work of his own time. There 
are, of course, a few notable exceptions to this rule, 
but they are men who have rendered such con- 


GOING WEST 197 


spicuous service to mankind as to link their fame 
with all the coming generations. But this is a fact 
not to be bemoaned as a misfortune, for it matters 
little, after all, as to the permanence of one’s name 
or reputation in human annals, if we have wrought 
our best, in the light of that eternal life beyond in 
which we shall all be judged by different standards 
from those of earth, and our award fixed by One 
whose omniscience enables Him to trace the influ- 
ences for good or for evil, for weal or for woe, of 
every human life. 

It often happens that men are known better by 
the generation which follows them than by their 
own generation. This is the case with all forward- 
looking souls, who, under the inspiration of faith 
and a superior knowledge of God and His plans, 
have taught and wrought in advance of the great 
mass of people of their own time. This was true 
of the great characters of Bible history including 
our Lord Himself, who, condemned and crucified by 
His own generation, is loved, adored and worshiped 
by millions of the most enlightened human beings 
on the earth today. Indeed, it is the sacrificial life 
that writes its deeds in imperishable letters on the 
hearts of mankind. To those who sought positions 
of honor in Christ’s coming kingdom, He said, ‘‘If 
any man would come after me, let him deny himself, 
and take up his cross, and follow me. For whoso- 
ever would save his life shall lose it; and whosoever 
shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.’’ 

I am spending the eventide of life out here in the 
‘Golden West,’’ continuing my ‘‘ Easy Chair”’ con- 
tributions to The Christian-Evangelist, and am just 
now completing the difficult task of writing at least 
the outline of an autobiography. I still enjoy my 
work, my friends, and my life. I hope to be able to 


198 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


continue my work as long as I live, for it seems to 
me that when my life-work is complete, I should like 
to go home and rest. Rest, but not idleness. Rest 
from Earth’s labors, burdens, and weariness, to en- 
gage in the higher activities and loftier pursuits, in 
the places He has gone to prepare for us; for we are 
to be with Him, become like Him, and shall know 
even as we are known. To Him who loved us and 
gave Himself for us, be the glory and the honor, the 
dominion and power, both now and forever more! 
Amen! 


MISCELLANEOUS PAPERS 


HiauHer Criticism 


WHAT IT IS, AND WHAT SHOULD BE OUR ATTITUDE 
TOWARD IT 


(The following lecture was delivered before the 
Texas Christian Lectureship in December, 1894— 
when the question of ‘*‘ Higher Criticism’’ was begin- 
ning to produce no little disquietude among many 
Christians. It was subsequently published in 
pamphlet form and has contributed in some degree, 
I hope, to the more rational view of the subject 
which prevails among intelligent believers.) 

We are evidently on the eve of great activity in 
the field of Biblical criticism, and there seems to be 
a widespread misapprehension as to its nature, in- 
tent and necessity. It is not optional with us 
whether we will have the religious people of this 
country agitate this question or not. Without our 
consent, and beyond the possibility of our prevent- 
ing, these issues are upon us and must be met. 
Nothing could be more inevitable. The story of the 
old English king, Canute, who, at the suggestion 
of his flattering courtiers, commanded the rising tide 
of the Atlantic to recede before his royal majesty, 
presents no more ludicrous scene than does a junto 
of traditional critics hurling their anathemas 
against the swelling tide of Biblical criticism, with 
a view to staying its progress! Both these tides 
are drawn by the attraction of heavenly bodies, and 
it is not in the power of mortals to prevent them. 
Moreover, we ought not, if we could, prevent the 
fullest and freest investigation of all those questions 

199 


200 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


included within the scope of what is known as Higher 
Criticism. It ought to be apparent to us all that 
under the existing state of things the Bible is very 
largely an unknown book. The great majority of 
those who profess to accept it as a divine revela- 
tion, and who regard it with apparent reverence, are 
ignorant of a large part of its contents. Many of 
the books of the Old Testament particularly are to 
them terrae incogmtae. They know little or noth- 
ing of their authors, dates and the historical circum- 
stances under which they are written. Severed thus 
from their connection with the conditions and cir- 
cumstances out of which they grew, these ancient 
books are largely unintelligible. Owing to this cause 
much of the Old Testament literature is regarded 
as having little practical value in our day. No 
amount of reverence for the Bible as a sacred book 
can compensate for this lack of an intelligent under- 
standing and a proper appreciation of its contents. 
When it is remembered that the books of the Bible 
were written in a remote age, and under conditions 
widely different from those now existing, under his- 
toric surroundings not now familiar to the common 
mind, and in languages known only to scholarship, 
it is evident that we have here a task for the highest 
and most consecrated learning and literary skill 
within the church. Does higher criticism have any 
relation to this task? 

This leads us to ask, What zs higher criticism? 
In answer to this question I cannot do better, per- 
haps, than to quote a few words from Pres. Wm. R. 
Harper, of the University of Chicago. In the July 
number of the New Christian Quarterly of the 
eurrent year, Dr. Harper says: 


‘*Do you ask what criticism is in its technical 
sense? I answer in a single word, ‘Inquiry.’ The 


HIGHER CRITICISM 201 


whole business of a critic is to make inquiry. The 
literary critic inquires as to the authorship, the 
authenticity, the style and the character of a par- 
ticular writing. The historical critic makes inquiry 
as to the date and details of an historical event, and 
its relation to other events which occurred before 
and after. It is difficult, however, to separate 
literary and historical criticism. History and litera- 
ture have always been and are inseparable. Shall 
we then find a single word to describe the process 
of inquiry which includes both the literary and the 
historical? It is the word ‘higher’ as distinguished 
frcm ‘lower,’ the latter being a word applicable to 
inquiry which relates only to the text.’’ 


Higher criticism, then according to Dr. Harper, is 
inquiry into the literary and historical character of 
any book or document, whether sacred or profane. 
The tendency, as Dr. Harper points out, to confine 
the term ‘‘higher’’ to those critics who are destruc- 
tive in their aims and methods, is erroneous. All 
who inquire into the literary and historical char- 
acter of the books of the Bible are higher critics. 
Do we need, then, to ask whether higher criticism 
be legitimate? Whether Christians ought to de- 
nounce it as something essentially wicked and 
irreverent? Many good people, confusing some of 
the conclusions of the more radical critics with 
higher criticism itself, have been led into an indis- 
criminate denunciation of higher criticism. Not a 
few people identify the higher criticism with the 
theory of the non-Mosaic and post-exilic authorship 
of the Pentateuch. If we will remember the higher 
criticism, as Dr. Fairbairn says, ‘‘is but a name 
for scientific scholarship, scientifically applied,’’ we 
shall be able to see that it is something different 
from any alleged result or conclusion reached by 
the higher criticism. As to the legitimacy of apply- 
ing higher criticism to the Bible, Dr. Fairbairn says: 


202 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


‘‘Nobody denies, nobody even doubts, the legiti- 
macy of its application to classical or ethnic litera- 
ture, the necessity or the excellence of the work it 
has done, or, where the material allowed of it, the 
accuracy of the results it has achieved. Without it 
there would hardly be such a thing as sequence or 
order in the older Hindu literature, or any knowl- 
edge touching the authorship or authenticity of cer- 
tain Platonic dialogues or Aristotelian treatises. To 
grant that many of its conclusions are arbitrary, 
provisional or problematical, is simply to say that 
it is a human science, created by men, worked by 
men, yet growing ever more perfect with their 
mastery of their material. Now the Scriptures 
either are or are not fit subjects for scholarship. 
If any are not, then all sacred scholarship has been 
and is a mistake, and they are a body of literature 
possessed of the inglorious distinction of being in- 
capable of being understood. If they are, then the 
more scientific the scholarship the greater its use 
in the field of Scripture, and the more it is reverently 
exercised on a literature that can claim to be the 
preeminent sacred literature of the world, the more 
that literature will be honored.’’* 


If one raises the question, why it is necessary to 
apply the principles of higher criticism to the Bible, 
and thus disturb some of our cherished traditions 
and theories, I answer once more in the language of 
Dr. Fairbairn: 


‘*Tf scientific scholarship be legitimate, the higher 
criticism cannot be forbidden; the two have simply 
moved part passu. Hebrew language became an- 
other thing in the hands of Gesenius from what it 
had been in those of Parkhurst; the genius of Ewald 
made it a still more living, mobile and significant 
thing. The discoveries in Egypt and Mesopotamia 
have made forgotten empires and lost literatures 
rise out of their graves to elucidate the contem- 
porary Hebrew history and literature. More inti- 


*Place of Christ in Modern Theology, p. 503. 


HIGHER CRITICISM 203 


mate knowledge of Oriental man and nature, due to 
personal acquaintance with them, has qualified 
scholars the better to read and understand the 
Semitic mind. A more accurate knowledge of 
ancient versions, combined with a more scientific 
archaeology and clearer insight into the intellectual 
tendencies and religious methods of the Old World, 
especially in their relation to literary activity and 
compilation, has enabled the student to apply new 
and more certain canons to all that concerned the 
formation of books and texts. The growth of skilled 
interpretation, exercised and illustrated in many 
fields, has accustomed men to the study of literature 
and history together, showing how the people were 
affected by the literature; and so has trained men to 
read with larger eyes the books and peoples of the 
past. With so many new elements entering into 
sacred scholarship, it is impossible that traditional 
views and traditional canons should remain un- 
affected. If ever anything was inevitable through 
the progress of science it was the birth of higher 
criticism; and once it existed, it was no less a neces- 
sity that it should have a mind and conclusion of 
its own. Where scholarship has the right to enter, 
it has the right to stay, and it cannot stay in idleness. 
What it does and decides may be wrong, but the 
wrong must be proved by other and better scholar- 
ship. In other words, once analysis of the objects 
or material of faith has been allowed, a process has 
been commenced by reason that only reason can 
conclude. And this process the higher criticism did 
not begin, but those who allowed that scholarship 
had a function in the interpretation of Holy Writ.’’* 


Dr. Fairbairn is undoubtedly right in arguing that 
if scholarship has any legitimate place in Biblical 
study we cannot deny it the right to apply scientific 
principles to the literary and historical questions 
which the various books of the Bible present. There 
is no halfway position between the old Romish idea 


*Place of Christ in Modern Theology, pp. 403-4. 


204 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


that faith prospers best in ignorance, and the fullest 
welcome to reverent and rational criticism as an 
instrument for attaining a better understanding of 
the Bible. 


TWO CLASSES OF HIGHER CRITICS 


But some one is ready to ask: ‘‘Are not some 
of the conclusions of the higher critics destructive 
of the integrity and authority of the Scriptures?’’ 
Certainly this is true of certain theories put forth by 
the rationalistic or destructive critics. But are not 
some of the interpretations of Biblical commentators 
destructive of sound doctrine? Certainly. What 
then? Shall we condemn Biblical interpretation and 
denounce all commentaries? Certainly not. Neither 
must we condemn higher criticism because certain 
critics use it apparently for the express purpose of 
destroying faith in the Bible. The one would be as 
irrational as the other. The Bible has always had 
enemies. We cannot prevent them from using some 
of the principles of higher criticism to further their 
rationalistic ends. We must understand that the 
higher critics are of two classes: the constructive 
and the destructive. Many of the latter are schol- 
arly and exceedingly industrious, and we may profit 
by some of the data they gather; but we are under 
no obligations to accept their destructive conclu- 
sions, because they start in their investigation with 
a presupposition which excludes the supernatural 
and controls their decisions. In failing to recognize 
historical facts, for which their rationalistic theories 
cannot account, they violate the scientific principles 
for which they express so much respect. As I have 
said elsewhere on this point: 


It is not the scientific investigation of the Bible 
that its friends have reason to fear, but an unscien- 


HIGHER ORITICISM 205 


tific method of dealing with its facts and truths. The 
methods of Biblical criticism and interpretation 
which in the past have done most violence to the in- 
spired volume, have been thoroughly unscientific. 
Now that there is a disposition to insist on the ap- 
plication of strictly scientific principles to the lt- 
erature of the Bible, Christians ought to be the last 
people to make any objections to such application. 
They do have the right, however, to object to some 
of the unscientific methods pursued by certain crit- 
ics who claim to be guided by scientific rules in their 
investigation. ‘‘To illustrate what we mean: A 
scientist in examining the geological formation of a 
given country, comes across a huge boulder, wholly 
unlike the rocks which belong to that region. It is 
evident at once to his practiced eye that this im- 
mense stone is not a native, so to speak, of that lo- 
cality, but must have come from some remote region. 
But there is no force now at work that would pos- 
sibly have transported it there. The true scientist, 
however, does not ignore the fact. The stone is 
there and its presence must be accounted for. If 
the ordinary forces of nature cannot account for it, 
then he reasons that at some time in the remote 
past, beyond the memory of man, an extraordinary 
force must have been in operation, as the iceberg or 
glacier. This is science. It must account for facts. 
It cannot ignore them. But here is a Biblical critic 
who proposes to treat the Bible on scientific princi- 
ples. In the process of his investigations he comes 
across a remarkable history, like that of ancient Is- 
rael. It is unlike the history of all the nations that 
surround it. It has a literature, a faith, and a wor- 
ship that the other nations have not. Indeed, its 
history cannot be accounted for by the ordinary 
forces which influence national development. The 
scientific spirit would say, ‘Effects must have ade- 
quate causes. But here are effects which ordinary 
or natural causes could not have produced. There 
must therefore have been extraordinary or super- 
natural causes at work to produce these results.’ 
But instead of that, a certain school of rationalistic 


206 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


critics who claim to be preéminently scientific, deny 
the possibility of any such supernatural cause, and 
proceed to minimize the meaning of the wonderful 
history so as to bring its facts within the range of 
ordinary causes. This school of critics proceeds to 
the New Testament and finds there the record of a 
marvelous life, unlike that of all the race beside. 
Here is a sinless Being, with power to perform ex- 
traordinary acts, and with a wisdom which infinitely 
transcends that of all other men, and makes Him an 
authoritative Teacher of nations. He claimed a pre- 
natal existence, divine rank, and having conquered 
death established an institution which has spanned 
all the intervening centuries, and is today the might- 
iest influence on the world’s life. Surely, now, this 
school of so-called scientific critics will admit that 
here is a personality that is not the product of his 
age or environment, and must be accounted for on 
the hypothesis of the intervention of a higher power 
than nature possesses. But no; this unscientific 
school of rationalists, rather than yield their favor- 
ite hypothesis, that the miraculous or supernatural 
cannot interfere with the natural order of things, 
undertakes to bring the Christ of God within the 
sphere of natural causes. That is to say they do 
not accept the facts which cannot be accounted for 
on naturalistic principles. Is this scientific? It is 
everything else but that.”’ 

Instead, then, of crying out against higher criti- 
cism, as such, we would do a much wiser thing in 
holding Biblical critics to their own principles, and 
insist on their giving some account of the facts of 
history which do not fall within the range of natural 
causes.* 


But who are to meet these destructive critics on 
their own ground, and point out the inconclusive- 
ness of their arguments, and their violation of ac- 
knowledged scientific principles? Evidently this 
work can be done only by higher critics who are rev- 





*New Christian Quarterly, 1898, pp. 507-508. 


HIGHER CRITICISM 207 


erent in spirit, scholarly in their methods, and con- 
structive in their aims. And fortunately there are 
such critics, and the number is increasing steadily. 
Dr. Harper calls them rational in contradistinction 
to the rationalistic critics. In the present perturbed 
state of thought on Biblical questions, those believ- 
ing, constructive critics have a heavy responsibility 
to bear, and deserve the sympathy and cordial sup- 
port of the whole church. But instead of that they 
must make up their minds to receive not only the 
opposition of the rationalists in front, but perhaps a 


fiercer opposition from the irrationalists in the rear 
—those who are wedded to tradition and refuse to 
open their eyes to the new light that is breaking in 
upon us from so many sources. Many of them will 
be cast out of their denominational synagogues and 
their names be bandied about by the ignorant as 
synonyms for infidelity and spiritual apostasy. But 
posterity will build their tombs, and the generations 
yet unborn will rise up and call them blessed. Theirs 
is the difficult and responsible task of standing be- 
tween the rationalistic and destructive critics, 
whose aim is to divest the Bible and religion of the 
supernatural element, and the unreasoning tradi- 
tionalists, who, with their own pre-supposition as 
to what kind of a revelation God should make to 
men, identify their traditions and theories concern- 
ing the Bible with the Bible itself, and risk faith 
on the fate of their pre-conceived opinions; and 
standing between these two dangerous extremes— 
and which is the more dangerous J dare not say— 
to show to all open and inquiring minds, as against 
the former, that rationalism allows no adequate 
cause for the greatest facts of human histroy, and, 
as against the latter, that the truth of Christianity 


208 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


does not stand or fall with their traditional and in- 
herited views, many of which are obstacles to faith 
and stumblingblocks in the way of honest inquirers. 


CUI BONO? 


But some one who is ready to admit the legitimacy 
of Biblical criticism may ask, ‘‘ What good has been 
or is to be accomplished by it?’’ It is denied by no 
one competent to give an opinion on the subject, that 
literary and historical criticism has achieved very 
important results in the fields of classic literature 
and the sacred literatures of the ethnic religions. 
It may be thought by some, however, that our own 
dear Bible is not capable of being made any more 
intelligible or credible by the investigations of 
higher criticism. Hence the question is a legitimate 
one, and I shall attempt to point out a few facts, of 
a general character, which modern criticism has 
served to emphasize and to bring out into much 
clearer light. 

1. The Human Element wn the Bible. This fact 
was very largely ignored from the period following 
the Lutheran Reformation until within modern 
times. ‘‘When the first act of the Reformation was 
closed and the great men passed away, whose pres- 
ence seemed to supply the strength which was found 
before in the recognition of the one living Body of 
Christ, their followers invested the Bible as a whole 
with all the attributes of mechanical infallibility 
which the Romanists had claimed for the Church. 
Pressed by the necessities of their position, the dis- 
ciples of Calvin were contented to maintain the di- 
rect and supernatural action of a guiding Power on 
the very words of the inspired writer, without any 
regard to his personal or rational positions. Every 
part of Scripture was held to be not only pregnant 


HIGHER ORITICISM 209 


with instruction, but with instruction of the same 
kind and in the same sense.’’ Men, indeed, wrote 
the Bible, according to this view, but they were 
mere pens in the hand of God, amanuenses of the 
Holy Spirit. The divine element in inspiration was 
emphasized to such an extreme as to eliminate the 
human. The pious Richard Baxter was led to re- 
mark: ‘*The devil’s last method is to undo by over- 
doing, and so to destroy the authority of the Bible 
by over-magnifying it.’’ It is easy to see how the 
widespread deism and infidelity of the eighteenth 
century would naturally result from these extreme 
views. The good people who held them did not 
suspect that they were dangerous, but they no doubt 
did suspect the soundness of any one who may have 
declined to accept them. It was not difficult for in- 
fidelity to make an effective attack on the Bible, re- 
garded as a ‘‘collection of supernatural syllables,’’ 
dictated directly by the Holy Spirit. Consider, too, 
how completely such a theory destroys all natural- 
ness, vitality and beauty in the Bible, and makes 
its writers mere puppets on the stage, moving only 
as they are moved by a hand behind the curtain. 
Higher criticism has made this mechanical theory 
of inspiration impossible with intelligent people. It 
has made it clear that inspiration does not involve 
the suspension of the natural faculties of those in- 
spired. This makes the Bible both a natural and 
a human book, while it is inspired and divine. It 
removes insuperable obstacles to an intelligent faith, 
and clothes the literature of the Bible with a fresh 
and ever-living interest. As a recent author says: 


‘‘How touchingly would come to us, in its pages, 
the cry of the human spirit in its everchanging 
moods if we recognize it as the cry of the human 
spirit like our own. With what interest we should 


?10 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


watch men struggling with temptation, or question- 
ing of the mysteries of life around them if we felt, 
especially in the Old Testament, that they were or- 
dinary imperfect men like ourselves, in whom God’s 
great work of character-making was only in prog- 
ress—men who were being enlightened and ennobled 
by the Spirit of God, and who, under his influence, 
uttered naturally their thoughts and inspirations, 
not some mechanically dictated words from on 
high 


2. The Divine Element in the Bible. This fact is 
made more demonstrable by the light of criticism. 
Place its books alongside of other equally ancient 
literatures, and let them be compared, in sublimity 
of thought, majesty of style, purity of doctrine, and 
importance of facts recorded, and the conscientious, 
reverent, believing critic is bound to recognize the 
presence of a divine factor in the Bible not to be 
found elsewhere in the same degree or manner. 
Moreover, he will recognize the consciousness on 
the part of Bible writers that they were under the 
guidance of a divine power, which he will find in no 
other literature. But as the divine element in the 
Bible is recognized by those whom I now address, 
this point need not be further elaborated. 

3. The Progress of Divine Revelation. While this 
fact has always been more or less clearly recognized 
by intelligent Bible students, modern criticism has 
given it greater emphasis and wider application than 
it had hitherto received. The failure to see and to 
teach that God has communicated moral and spirit- 
ual truths to men, in proportion as they were able 
to receive them, giving them at first in lower and 
imperfect forms, and, as the world was ready for it, 
imparting a larger measure of light and holding 


*How God Inspired the Bible, p. 121. 


HIGHER CRITICISM PAUL 


men to a higher standard, has given rise to the most 
serious class of difficulties which have ever troubled 
honest inquirers, namely, the moral difficulties in 
connection with Old Testament history. It is not 
necessary that I should here specify what these diffi- 
culties are. It is easy to see that they originate in 
the conception that we ought to find in the Old Tes- 
tament, since it is inspired, the same lofty ideas of 
God, of worship, of morality as we do in the New 
Testament. How theologians have troubled them- 
selves to explain certain crude ideas of God or of 
morality in the Old Testament, and especially in the 
imprecatory psalms! And alas! how many mis- 
guided souls have stumbled into infidelity over these 
moral difficulties! The short and easy method of 
theologians and religious teachers, with these hon- 
est doubters, was, and is yet, sometimes, to tell them 
that they have no right to question the moral per- 
fection of anything in the Bible; that if their con- 
sciences cannot indorse these imprecations, for in- 
stance, it is because they are sinful and rebellious! 
No wonder such teaching made infidels. Biblical 
criticism has made it very clear that there is a grad- 
ual progress in revelation, adapted to the spiritual 
capacity of the race, and that we are not to measure 
the men—even the inspired men—of the old dispen- 
sation with the spiritual standard given us by Christ. 
We have profited little by the superior light of the 
Christian dispensation if we are unable to detect 
an imperfect morality, and an inadequate view of 
God on the part of those who dwelt in the starlight 
and moonlight dispensations of truth. If Christian- 
ity has not so trained our hearts in sentiments of 
love and merey, that we instinctively recoil from 
some of the fierce utterances of the warlike psalm- 
ist, we have been dull and non-receptive disciples in 


212 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


the school of Christ. These psalms are properly in 
the Bible as truthfully portraying the moral and re- 
ligious state of the times, and when we learn so to 
teach no harm will be done to faith. 

4. The Purpose or Limitations of Inspiration. 
Biblical criticism is teaching us that Bible writers 
were not inspired with omniscience to teach univer- 
sal knowledge; that neither prophets nor apostles 
are to be regarded as infallible authority on geol- 
ogy, astronomy, physiology, geography, or any other 
branch of human science; that they were not lifted 
above the possibilities of mistakes, mentally or mor- 
ally. They were inspired to receive and record 
God’s revelations to men, concerning his character 
and will, and man’s duty and destiny. The Scrip- 
tures — God-breathed — are profitable for — what? 
‘*Mosaic cosmogonies and Hebrew histories?’’ Not 
so. They are profitable ‘‘for doctrine, for reproof, 
for correction, for instruction in righteousness.’’ 
‘‘The law of the Lord is perfect’’—for what? ‘‘Con- 
verting the soul.’’ The old controversy over Gene- 
sis and geology, and the modern contention for ab- 
solute inerrancy in every minute detail in the Bible, 
have their source in this failure to recognize the 
purpose for which inspiration was given, and the ob- 
ject of God’s revelations to men. Neither revela- 
tion—the disclosure to men of truths they could not 
otherwise know—nor inspiration—the divine quali- 
fication for making a true record of such revelation 
—is a substitute for human learning and for perse- 
vering research and investigation. God has not en- 
couraged mental indolence by revealing to us what 
we could find out for ourselves. He intends us to 
use the noble faculties with which he has endowed 
us in the search for truths and for methods. Science 
has been greatly impeded in the past by the false 


HIGHER CRITICISM PAR) 


idea that the Bible is a textbook on science, and 
that it was sinful to go beyond anything therein dis- 
closed; and the church has suffered infinite harm 
from the delusion that it is wrong for men to use 
their brains in devising ways and means of advanc- 
ing the kingdom of God in the world, since God has 
revealed all that nearly 2,000 vears ago! 

It is to greatly lower the character of the Bible to 
suppose it to be such a book as the above theory 
makes it. It has a higher mission than that, and a 
weightier message. It is to make us ‘‘ wise unto sal- 
vation which is through faith in Jesus Christ.’’ Is 
the Bible, then, infallible? As a guide to the knowl- 
edge of God and the way to salvation, it is infalli- 
ble. It does not claim infallibility in anything else. 

The attempt to enforce the modern dogma of in- 
errancy in all unimportant details, as an article of 
faith, is a piece of high-handed ecclesiastical tyranny 
unworthy of Protestantism, and a reproach to the 
cause of religion. But just as there were those who 
a few years ago declared that if the days of crea- 
tion in Genesis were not literal days of twenty-four 
hours each, then the whole Bible must be given up, 
so there are not wanting persons now who would 
rashly risk the faith of Christianity on the absolute 
inerrancy of the Scriptures in every minute state- 
ment and unimportant detail. Biblical criticism, in 
pointing out the untenableness of this theory, and in 
recognizing the true purpose of revelation and the 
real scope of inspiration, has done distinguished 
service to the cause of Christianity in thus removing 
many serious obstacles to an intelligent faith. 

5. A Deeper and More Widespread Interest in Bib- 
lical Studies. Whatever else higher criticism may 
or may not have done, it has undoubtedly awakened 
a new interest in Bible study. I believe it safe to 


214 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


say that at no time in the history of the world has 
there been so much real Biblical investigation going 
on as there is today. Every book of the Bible is be- 
ing examined with microscopical minuteness, and 
light is sought from contemporaneous history, from 
archaeology, ethnology, and from every possible 
source, in order to a clearer understanding of its con- 
tents. Let it be admitted that the motive behind all 
this marvelous industry in Biblical research is not 
always the highest, and sometimes not even praise- 
worthy; that it is not infrequently marked by the 
absence of reverence, and of a constructive aim. Yet 
a large number of these investigators are prompted 
by love of the truth, and the laudable desire to rescue 
the Bible from the perils which threaten it by reason 
of false and inadequate theories. It can scarcely be 
doubted that out of this crucible of investigation 
through which the Bible is now passing, it will 
emerge unharmed, shedding a light all the brighter 
and purer because relieved of an incubus of tradi- 
tionalism which has too long obscured its divine 
beauty and glory. 


THE DIVINE VERSUS THE HUMAN WAY 


Some one who has listened to me thus far is, no 
doubt, ready to ask, ‘‘ Does not this new way of re- 
garding the Bible—as possessing a human element, 
as containing a progressive revelation from crude 
and elementary ideas of God and morality in the 
beginning to the perfect revelation in Christ, and as 
made by fallible men whose inspiration was not uni- 
versal, but limited to things relating to man’s moral 
and spiritual needs—lower the sacred volume and 
make it less worthy of God than the old view, which 
looked upon it as absolutely perfect in every word, 
syllable, date and casual reference?’’ No doubt 


HIGHER CRITICISM PALS: 


there are those who think so, just as there were those 
who thought it more becoming in God that His Son 
should come into the world in kingly power and 
glory, surrounded with wealth and earthly splendor, 
being ministered unto by a retinue of servants in- 
stead of ministering unto others, and, assuming an 
earthly crown, should conquer his foes instead of 
meekly submitting to death at their hands. But He 
came ‘‘in the form of a servant,’’ in human weak- 
ness, with poverty, hunger, and weariness, tempta- 
tion and trial, suffering and tears, deepest humilia- 
tion and crucifixion. In Him the human and the 
divine were blended. Thoughtful minds now all 
agree that this condescension of Christ—this union 
of the human and the divine in Him, enabled Him 
to make a revelation of God’s love and character 
which could not otherwise have been made. So, 
eventually, when the smoke of the present conflict 
shall have cleared away, we shall all come to see 
that God’s way of revealing Himself in the Bible, 
through fallible men, who spake out of their spirit- 
ual experiences such truths as God’s Spirit enabled 
them to see, in every variety of human composition 
—history, prophecy, poetry, drama, allegory, par- 
able, ete.,—was after all best suited to our condition 
and needs. It is certain we would not have made 
the Bible as God has made it. We would have left 
out the sins of Abraham, Moses, David, Solomon, 
Paul and Peter, lest we should ‘‘injure the cause!’’ 
I can imagine the genius of the Bible, in the spirit 
of Cromwellian honesty, saying to all its specious 
advocates who seek to hide its human element and 
limitations, ‘‘Paint me asI am!’’ It is not depend- 
ent on our human glosses for its safety and suc- 
cess. It is a thousand times more precious volume 
to us than if it consisted of a set of mathematically 


216 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


correct sentences, uttered by infallible beings, defin- 
ing God’s will and man’s duty. God’s way of mak- 
ing a Bible is better, infinitely better, than man’s 
way. 


SOME OF THE CRITICAL PROBLEMS 


It may be expected that I will treat, in this lec- 
ture, some of the questions with which higher criti- 
cism is at present concerned. It would lead me be- 
yond the limits prescribed for this address to do 
more than mention some of these problems. I make 
no pretension, of course, to be a higher critic. That 
work requires a special preparation and training to 
which I lay no claim. My work lies in another field. 
I only claim the right, in common with the rest of 
you, to judge the results of higher criticism with a 
free, untrammeled mind, and to accept such con- 
clusions as seem to me to be fully warranted, and 
to reject others, or hold them in abeyance for fur- 
ther light. No man or church has any right or au- 
thority to rob me of this privilege. I am where I 
am today, in my religious affiliation, because I de- 
mand this measure of freedom as my Christian 
birthright. 


Among the critical problems which have received 
most attention of late is, first of all, that of the 
Pentateuch—whether, in its present form, it is the 
work of Moses, or whether it is the production of a 
later hand, who used the ancient legislation of Moses 
as the nucleus of his work. Time forbids me to give 
even a synopsis of the arguments, pro et con. The 
weight of critical judgment is at present in favor of 
the non-Mosaie authorship, though admitting that 
much of the material of the books dates back to and 
beyond the time of Moses. Those of us who are not 
experts can afford to wait for further light before 


HIGHER CRITICISM 217 


making up our minds on the question. Then there 
is the documentary theory, or composite character 
of the Pentateuch. Is it, or is it not, made up of 
two or more ancient documents, by different authors, 
which have been welded together by another hand? 
The documentary theory is now generally accepted, 
even by the most conservative critics. Another 
problem is presented by the book of Isaiah. Is the 
entire book the work of one author, or is the latter 
part, from chapter 39 on, the work of a later author 
—a ‘‘second Isaiah?’’ The latter view, it will be 
remembered, constituted one of the charges against 
Prof. Briggs. The probability is that most of us 
have not given sufficient attention to the evidence on 
both sides of this question to be able to form an in- 
telliigent opinion on the subject. Other questions re- 
late to the date of several of the Old Testament 
books, particularly to that of Daniel, which some of 
the critics bring down as late as the year 165 B. C. 
But this last question, together with the Davidic 
authorship and date of many of the Psalms, may 
well wait for additional evidence. There is no need, 
meanwhile, that we be in any hurry to accept any 
new and startling conclusions. Enough that we hold 
ourselves ready to accept any new light that may be 
shed upon these questions. 

I have referred to these problems of higher ecrit- 
icism in order to say that they do not involve any- 
thing that is fundamental to Christian faith. Hither 
view on any of these critical questions may prevail 
without disturbing the foundation of Zion or retard- 
ing the progress of Christ’s kingdom. This is not 
true of the rationalistic hypothesis of some of the 
higher critics, which excludes the supernatural, but 
this destructive and revolutionary presupposition, 
let me say once more, is no essential part of the lit- 
erary and historical criticism of the Bible. It is an 


218 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


utter perversion of the true aim of Biblical criticism, 
and can only be successfully met by criticism of a 
reverent and constructive type. 


OUR ATTITUDE TOWARD HIGHER CRITICISM 


Perhaps the most practical question for this lec- 
tureship to consider is: What should be our attitude 
towards the higher criticism? Four attitudes are 
conceivable, namely: (1) Indifference, (2) Indiscrim- 
inate hostility; (3) Indiscriminate acceptance of 
everything suggested by higher criticism; (4) A 
hearty recognition of the legitimacy of higher criti- 
cism, aS an instrument for ascertaining the truth 
concerning the Bible, with the reserved right of ac- 
cepting or rejecting its conclusions, according as 
they may commend themselves to our judgment 
after giving them an honest and fearless examina- 
tion. In view of what I have already said, you will 
not be in any doubt as to which of these attitudes I 
think we ought to assume. The first is worthy only 
of religious dullards; the second of creed-bound tra- 
ditionalists; the third of unanchored rationalists, 
who, having loosed the cable of faith, are seeking 
to steer their course by the light of reason alone. 
The fourth attitude is alone worthy of enlightened 
and loyal Christians, freed from the bondage of 
opinionism, and standing fast in the liberty where- 
with Christ hath made them free. On this point I 
confess to having felt for some time a deep solici- 
tude for the brotherhood of believers with which it 
is my honor and privilege to be connected. Our pos- 
ition is a unique one in the religious world. We have 
broken loose from the tyranny of human creeds, not 
to escape the obligations of an evangelical faith, as 
some have done, but to put ourselves in a position 
where we may defend it more successfully, unim- 


HIGHER CRITICISM 219 


peded by tradition and unhampered by party re- 
straints. We have said to the whole world, ‘‘The 
Messiahship and divinity of Jesus of Nazareth is 
the creed of Christianity, and on that rock-founda- 
tion we take our stand, rejecting all other founda- 
tions.’’? Here we have stood, fought our battles and 
won our victories. Our position has given us a free- 
dom to investigate the Bible and to accept all its 
teachings, unknown since the apostolic age. Alex- 
ander Campbell, that intrepid leader whose memory 
we revere, stood, in his day, in the forefront of the 
battle for Bible translation and investigation, urg- 
ing that its books be studied in the light of their 
historic surroundings, and with due consideration 
of who the writer was, what he was writing about, 
and to whom he was writing. This is the very es- 
sence of higher criticism. He was not afraid of the 
light, but wanted it turned on from every quarter. 
My solicitude has been that we maintain this en- 
lightened and courageous attitude toward Biblical 
investigation, and not join with the unthinking dev- 
otees of admantine creeds and traditions decrying 
higher criticsm in an indiscriminate way. This 
would be unworthy of our position and history. 
Rather let us see in this revival of Biblical criticism, 
attended though it is with extreme and dangerous 
tendencies, God’s providential agency to purify the 
church of its erroneous traditions, and remove its 
sandy foundations, that it may rest securely and 
solely on the Rock of Ages. Least of all have we 
reason to fear the results of the most searching 
criticism. As Dr. Strong well and wisely says in 
his ‘‘New Era:’’ 


‘<The application of the scientific method to his- 
tory has dissipated into myth or legend much that 
our fathers held as substantial reality. Further- 


220 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


more, it has been a mischievous mistake on the part 
of many Christians to build their faith not solely 
on Christ, the Rock of Ages, but partly and largely 
on the shifting sands of human theories; and ag the 
progress of knowledge has destroyed these human 
foundations, the faith of many has perished with 
them. Not a few are saying today that if they are 
compelled to surrender their belief in the inerrancy 
of Scripture, their faith in Christianity will have to 
go with it. That would be a sacrifice as gratuitous 
as sad. Nothing can shake my confidence in Chris- 
tianity which does not shake my confidence in the 
genuineness of the life and character of Christ, for 
He is the only true foundation of the Christian 
faith. It has been said that Romanism is the relig- 
ion of a church, and that Protestantism is the re- 
ligion of a book. Both church and Bible are nec- 
essary, but all true Christianity, whether Protestant 
or Roman Catholic, is the religion of a person, cen- 
tered in Christ, and drawing its life and power from 
Elim 


If this is not the position—the most fundamental 
ground—of the Reformation we plead, then I do not 
know what it is, and have always misapprehended it. 
But if it 7s, what reason have we to fear higher 
criticism? Let it do its best and its worst, Christ 
will remain in His incomparable majesty and in His 
supreme authority as the world’s Teacher and Re- 
deemer. And the Bible, too, will remain, when crit- 
icism has done its work, as the most precious and 
most valued book in all the world. 


But is there no danger ahead in all this criticism? 
Certainly there is. There is danger of identifying 
our theories of the Bible with faith in its revela- 
tions, and yielding the latter with the former. There 
is danger of cultivating the critical faculties at the 
expense of the spiritual, and thus missing the ker- 
nel of truth while giving attention to its outward 


HIGHER CRITICISM 221 


husk. There is danger of magnifying the errors or 
imperfections of the Bible in order to offset an op- 
posing extreme. There is danger that the work of 
construction shall not keep pace with that of de- 
struction. But there is infinitely more danger in clos- 
ing our eyes and ears to all that is going on in the 
field of Biblical criticism, or in blindly resisting it 
as an ‘‘attack of infidelity.’’ This course would 
mean the continual sacrifice of the most intelligent 
and scholarly members connected with us. But this 
we shall not do. The whole genius and logic of our 
position is against it. We shall train our young men, 
who may be able to avail themselves of the advan- 
tages of the best scholarship, while standing firm on 
the unchanging and immovable Christ, to quit them- 
selves like men—like loyal freemen of God—in the 
wide field of Biblical inquiry. As for the rest of us, 
our task will be the no less lofty one of preaching the 
sweet old Gospel of redeeming love, which, from age 
to age, furnishes the only solace for broken hearts, 
the only remedy for the leprosy of sin, the only hope 
of the world. 


Tur Aims AND IDEALS oF A HALF CENTURY 


[In our Jubilee Anniversary number there was 
the following editorial, setting forth the chief things 
for which the paper has stood:] 


A half century ago the war-clouds hung darkly 
over all the land. Brother grappled with brother 
in the most gigantic struggle of our history. But 
even in those dark days the gospel was preached, 
men yielded to Christ, and churches were formed 
bearing his name. Then as now, men hungered for 
spiritual food, and for fellowship in each other’s 
thought and life. And behold! a religious news- 
paper was born. 


Gettysburg had been followed by Appomattox, 
and the sulphurous clouds of war had been scattered 
by the sun of peace, when in 1865 the writer came 
from the battlefields of the Southland and entered 
college. Three years in college had converted his 
sword into a pen, and revolutionized his life-plans, 
when in January, 1869, he became editor of the re- 
ligious journal which had been born six years be- 
fore, and, changing it from a monthly to a weekly, 
he has remained with it in all its varying fortunes 
through these forty-four years to the present. This 
fact enables him to speak with some assurance of its 
aims and ideals. 

First and foremost, and determinative of all else, 
was the thorough conviction on the part of those who 
have controlled the policy of the paper that the ref- 
ormation inaugurated by Thomas and Alexander 
Campbell at the beginning of the nineteenth century, 
for the unity of a divided church by a return to the 
simplicity and catholicity of New Testament Chris- 

222 


THE AIMS AND IDEALS OF A HALF CENTURY 223 


tianity, was in harmony with God’s will and His 
Message for our day. It was this vision of Truth 
and of Duty that changed the writer’s ecclesiastical 
relations and directed his life-current into new chan- 
nels. 


The highest peak in the range of aims and ideals 
which have influenced and shaped the course of this 
journal through its entire history, is the exaltation 
of Jesus Christ, as the Son of God, the Revealor of 
the Father, the Saviour of the World, the Head of 
the Church, and the King of Humanity. This ex- 
altation of Christ has embraced the following truths 
which are the very heart and soul of our movement; 
Loyalty to Christ; Liberty through Christ; Unity in 
Christ; and Progress under Christ’s leadership in 
the conquest of the world. This implies the cen- 
trality of Christ. 

These have been the great key-words of this jour- 
nal through all its history. They have determined 
its attitude on all the important questions which 
have arisen among us, such as missions, missionary 
societies, methods of worship, liberty of thought on 
Biblical and theological problems, federation, or our 
attitude toward other evangelical bodies of Chris- 
tians, and the spirit in which our message should be 
presented to the world. 

Throughout its history The Christian-Evangelist 
has stood for higher education, for ministerial train- 
ing, for a deeper spiritual life, for greater efficiency 
in church work, and more reverence in church wor- 
ship, higher standards in our Sunday or Bible 
schools, for the better organization of our churches 
in state-wide and nation-wide co-operative efforts 
for the advancement of the kingdom and the main- 
tenance of unity among ourselves. 


224 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


How far the paper has fallen short of these high 
aims and ideals is known to none better than to our- 
selves. But to its advocacy of these principles many 
believe the Disciples of Christ are indebted, in no 
small degree, for their present position and influence 
in the religious world. Nor do we doubt that if they 
continue to advance along the lines indicated by the 
foregoing aims and ideals, they are destined under 
God to perform an important part in bringing about 
the unity of Christ’s:church and the conversion of 
the world. 


Under the heading of ‘‘What We Plead For,’’ 
we have carried on our editorial page for a long 
time this statement of principles: 


The Christianity of the New Testament, taught 
by Christ and his apostles, versus the theology of 
the creeds taught by fallible men—the world’s great 
need. 


The divine confession of faith on which Christ 
built his church, versus human confession of faith 
on which men have split the church. 


The unity of Christ’s disciples, for which he so 
fervently prayed, versus the divisions in Christ’s 
body, which his apostles so strongly condemned. 


The abandonment of sectarian names and prac- 
tices, based on human authority, for the common 
family name and the common faith based on the di- 
vine authority, versus the abandonment of scrip- 
tural names and usages for partisan ends. 


The hearty co-operation of Christians in efforts of 
world-wide benevolence and evangelization, versus 
petty jealousies and strifes in the struggle for de- 
nominational pre-eminence. 


The fidelity to truth which secures the approval 
of God, versus the conformity to custom to gain the 
favor of man. 


THE AIMS AND IDEALS OF A HALF CENTURY 225 


The protection of the home and the destruction of 
the saloon, versus the protection of the saloon and 
the destruction of the home. 


The following statement of ‘‘What We Stand 
For’’ ran for a long time on our Editorial page. It 
attempts to express in poetic form what I have 
stated otherwise in prose: 


What We Stand For 


For the Christ of Galilee, 
For the truth which makes men free, 
For the bond of unity 

Which makes God’s children one. 


For the love which shines in deeds, 

For the life which this world needs, 

For the church whose triumph speeds 
The prayer: ‘‘Thy will be done.’’ 


For the right against the wrong, 

For the weak against the strong, 

For the poor who’ve waited long 
For the brighter age to be. 


For the faith against tradition, 

For the truth ’gainst superstition, 

For the hope whose glad fruition 
Our waiting eyes shall see. 


For the city God is rearing, 

For the New Earth now appearing, 

For the heaven above us clearing, 
And the song of victory. 


J. H. Garrison. 


Concerning the foregoing poem W. R. Warren 
wrote: 


226 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


‘*We should like to know in what various forms 
and in how many languages this little poem has ap- 
peared. We have seen it reprinted in many differ- 
ent papers and innumerable local church bulletins. 
Evangelists have used it by the thousand. On post- 
cards it has traced the mail routes of the wide world. 
In many a family circle it has been memorized. 


‘*Like everything else that appears in The Chris- 
tian-Evangelist it is freely at the disposal of all who 
can use it. We feel safe in speaking for its author— 


‘*Say it or sing it, shoe it or wing it, 
So it may outrun and outfly me, 
Merest cocoon web, whence ’twas set 

free.”’ 


A Jubilee Ode to The Christian-Evangelist 
(Published in the Semi-Centennial Jubilee Number) 


Fifty years! All hail, thou victor 
O’er the foes which thronged thy way; 
Welcome thou who bring’st good tidings, 
To this brighter, better day. 


Fifty years! What mighty changes 

Thou hast seen and helped to make; 
In thy five decades of history, 

Made for truth’s and Christ’s dear sake. 


Fifty years! What deeds recorded 
In thy pages through these years— 
Deeds of faith and true devotion, 
Quick’ning hope and calming fears! 


J. H. Garrison. 


THE AIMS AND IDEALS OF A HALF CENTURY 


Fifty years! Alas the struggles 
Which those toil-filled years imply! 
Who but God ean know the heart-throbs 
Which behind these volumes lie. 


Fifty years! Thy earliest readers 
Now are olden grown and gray; 

Many, too, have passed the border 
Into realms of endless day. 


Fifty years! With dew of morning 
On thy youthful form and face, 

Thou shalt see new eras dawning 
Ere thou end thy useful race. 


227 


The years have gone—the dear, dead years— 


And Time fond ties doth sever; 
And men have come, and men have gone, 
But thou?—Go on forever! 


Some Reasons ror Givinc To MIssions 


[One of the great tasks of The Christian-Evan- 
gelist was to arouse our churches to a sense of their 
missionary obligations. The following is a sample 
of the editorial work we did on that line:] 


We have a few words we wish to say directly to 
churches and brethren who have hitherto been non- 
contributors to our missionary work abroad. It 
seems to us a reproach that so large a number of 
our churches belong to this class. Even in the 
churches where the offering for foreign missions is 
made there is a large proportion of members who 
give nothing. We would like to be able to make 
these churches and brethren see that they are not 
only injuring the work, but themselves, by this 
course. We feel absolutely sure that such is the 
case, and we believe that this can be made to appear 
even to those who have hitherto stood aloof from 
this work. 

The fundamental condition of success in all church 
work is to work with Christ, and thus secure His 
presence and His strength. There can be no doubt 
but that the great desire and purpose of Christ is 
that His gospel should be preached among all na- 
tions, and that all men should have the opportunity 
of believing in Him and being saved by Him. He has 
laid this work upon His church; He has promised 
to be with it while so engaged, even unto the consum- 
mation of the age. Is it not plain, therefore, that 
if we desire the presence of Christ with us, and His 
blessing upon our work, that we must share in this 
great duty that He has laid upon his church? 

228 


SOME REASONS FOR GIVING TO MISSIONS 229 


The churches most likely to neglect the duty of 
making an offering are the weak churches. They 
are few in numbers, none of them rich in this world’s 
goods, probably have not a suitable building, and 
are unable to employ a preacher for his whole time. 
Many of this class of churches are in the habit of 
making a sort of breastwork out of these excuses and 
conditions by which they protect themselves from 
the appeals in our papers and from our pulpits. But 
will these excuses stand in the light of the foregoing 
statements? How can a weak church become strong 
otherwise than by the blessing of God upon it and 
its work? How can it secure this blessing except by 
engaging, according to the measure of its ability, in 
doing the work for which the church exists? The 
church that is poor, that is in debt, that has no house 
of its own in which to meet, that is unable to secure 
a pastor for all his time, cannot make a better in- 
vestment than by making a liberal offering, accord- 
ing to its means, to the work of missions. 

The incredulous will ask, ‘‘How can this be?’”’ It 
seems to them contrary to reason. However that 
may be, it is not contrary to faith or to experience. 
The reflex influence upon the church of this unselfish 
act quickens the spiritual life, increases faith, in- 
tensifies zeal, makes Christianity more real, teaches 
the lesson of sacrifice for others, commends the 
church to those outside, and draws down upon it the 
blessing of God. Try the experiment and see if this 
be not true. Let the elder or preacher of such con- 
grecation say: ‘‘Brethren, we feel that we are poor, 
but we are rich in comparison with those who have 
never heard the gospel and have never learned the 
blessedness of Christ’s promises. By so much as 
we prize our knowledge of Christ and of his salva- 
tion let us share this blessing with the pagan world 


230 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


that lies in darkness. Let us be faithful in the little 
that we have, and God will give us more.’’ That 
would be a good sermon, and it would secure an 
offering that would bless the church. 

There is strength in fellowship; in the feeling that 
we are a part of a great host, who are working to- 
gether for the advancement of the kingdom of God. 
There will be a new interest and a new joy in read- 
ing the reports of success in foreign fields if we have 
contributed our share towards the work. The tide 
of spiritual life will flow in stronger currents through 
those churches that have a part in the great work 
of the world’s evangelization. They will feel that 
they are not useless members of the body ecclesias- 
tic, but an integral part of that advancing army seek- 
ing the conquest of the world for Christ. 


There are hundreds and thousands of individual 
members in churches where strong appeals are made 
from the pulpit, and where the offering is made for 
missions, who have neither part nor lot in this mat- 
ter. As a rule, these members do not read our re- 
ligious journals and have not been brought into sym- 
pathy with the best life and thought among us and 
with these efforts for world-wide evangelism. Their 
horizons are narrow, their sympathies are con- 
tracted, their spiritual life is dwarfed, because their 
hearts and minds are not nourished and strengthened 
by spiritual food and spiritual activity. Not only is 
the missionary treasury deprived of their assistance, 
but the worst feature is, their own souls are im- 
poverished, if not destroyed, by such inaction and 
neglect. It should be the earnest effort, therefore, 
of every congregation to enlist every member in this 
offering for his own sake as well as for the sake of 
the cause. 


IF CHRIST SHOULD COME Pot: 


Jesus said, ‘‘It is more blessed to give than to 
receive.’’ Do the non-contributing churches and 
brethren believe this? Very few of them are un- 
willing to receive assistance from the mission 
board, or from some generous preacher who do- 
nates his services. Why should they neglect the 
‘‘more blessed thing?’’ There is a blessedness in 
unselfish giving which we can receive in no other 
way. Perhaps this is the ‘‘one thing which thou 
lackest,’’ thou non-contributing church or brother. 
If now we have made it clear that churches and in- 
dividuals wrong themselves and impoverish their 
own lives by not giving to the cause of missions, we 
have accomplished our purpose. We are sure it 
would be the universal testimony of all the churches 
who contribute regularly to the cause of missions 
that they have been spiritually enlarged and helped 
in every way by so doing. We sincerely trust, there- 
fore, that wherever The Christian-Evangelist goes 
and is read, every church will make its offering, and 
every individual will see that his contribution forms 
a part of that offering. 





Ir Curist SHOULD COME 


There is an evident tendency in later years to test 
our laws, our institutions, our customs, our politics, 
our religious life and whatever else goes to make 
up our Christian civilization by the will and char- 
acter of Christ. Such books as ‘‘The Mind of 
Christ’’ and ‘‘If Christ Should Come to Chicago”’ 
and similar works indicate a growing consciousness 
that whatever will not stand this supreme test must 
give place to something better. More and more is 
Jesus Christ becoming the standard authority in all 
that relates to religion, to ethics, to our obligations 
to God and to our fellowmen. This is certainly a 


232 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


most hopeful sign of Christian progress, and just 
in proportion as we subject our civilization to the 
supreme test of the mind of Christ will it become 
a Christian civilization. 

There is, however, fallacy, it seems to us, lurking 
in such phrases as, ‘‘If Christ should come.’’ This 
hypothetical phrase seems to imply that there is no 
real judgment of ourselves, our laws, our institutions 
and our religious life until the actual personal pres- 
ence of Jesus Christ at the end of the age. Asa 
matter of fact, Christ has always been with His 
church, in a very important sense, and has been a 
euiding and controlling force in human history since 
his advent into the world. He has been coming 
more and more into the life of mankind from the 
day he visibly ascended from Mt. Olivet to the 
present time. In every religious reformation, in 
every movement which has lifted the world to a 
higher level of thought and of action, in all the 
efforts to ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate 
and make the condition of man more tolerable, Christ 
has been coming into the world. Christ HAS come 
to Chicago, to New York, to St. Louis, and to all the 
great cities of Christendom, and has touched and 
perceptibly influenced, not only their religious, but 
their civie and social life. All the mighty Christian 
and philanthropic forces at work in these great 
centers of life and of influence are due to the 
fact of Christ’s having come to them. What we 
mean to say is that we are not to wait until some 
future visible manifestation of Christ’s personal 
coming to test our lives, our laws and our institu- 
tions. Slavery is abolished, feudalism has died, cruel 
forms of punishment have been discontinued, im- 
prisonment for debt is no longer possible, polygamy 
is dead except in semi-civilized communities where 


IF CHRIST SHOULD COME 2oo 


it is sheltered under a pretense of religion, woman 
is no longer treated as the slave of man, and child- 
hood is no longer neglected in civilized communities, 
because God has condemned these practices. Many 
offensive laws have been expunged from our statute 
books because Christ has vetoed them: He is today 
the most potent factor in the world’s civilization. 
Under his growing power and influence many prac- 
tices, laws and beliefs, now cherished as respectable, 
if not sacred, are bound to go down, to be num- 
bered with other relics of an un-Christian or semi- 
hristian civilization. 

What the world needs today more than anything 
else is the unflinching application of this test to all 
that makes up our modern complex civilization. We 
must test our religious beliefs, our practices, by the 
mind and character of Christ. Our creeds must 
stand or fall by this supreme test. Our standing 
as Christians must be determined by the conformity 
of our conduct to the character and teaching of 
Christ. We may shrink from submitting to this 
standard of measurement, but it is the only correct 
one, and we only deceive ourselves in submitting 
any other for it. Some of the old theologies have 
gone down before this testing process and are re- 
garded now as only interesting curiosities of the 
past. 

Our present denominational divisions, our methods 
of carrying on the Lord’s work in the world, the 
relations of various religious bodies to each other, 
our party names, our party spirit and denomina- 
tional machinery—all these must be subjected to the 
mind of Christ. The question is, Does He approve 
of our present divisions, and is the spirit which 
animates the various denominations the Spirit of 
Christ? These questions cannot be evaded in- 


234 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


definitely. If the church fails to make the applica- 
tion of this test, the world will make it, never- 
theless. 

We must test our industrial and social life by 
this same standard. What does Christ think of 
these rapidly-accumulating trusts, of these vast 
monopolies? Is their aim and tendency to better 
the condition of the masses of mankind? Would 
Jesus Christ approve of them? Will they help or 
hinder the advancement of His kingdom? They 
must stand or fall according to the answer to these 
questions. What of our present ideas concerning the 
accumulation and use of wealth? Are they in har- 
mony with the mind of Christ? What about the 
relation of the employer to the employee? Does 
Christ’s idea of what that relationship should be 
prevail in the industrial world today? If not, we 
do not have to wait until the end of the age to know 
that Christ condemns it. 

Our political life, our state, national and municipal 
administrations—are they conducted upon Christian 
principles? What is Christ’s opinion of our present 
political and administrative methods? Do we need 
to say, ‘‘If Christ should come He would be dis- 
pleased with the corruption that prevails in much 
of our political life, and particularly in the manage- 
ment of our large cities? Certainly not. Christ has 
come and He does condemn, unsparingly, all this 
corruption, bribery and dishonesty. All we need to 
do is to recognize the fact of His condemnation and 
adjust our civic life to the principles of righteous- 
ness which He has taught. 

The process of advancing civilization, then, is 
simply the process of applying the mind of Christ 
to existing conditions in every department of human 
interest, and adjusting them to the mind of Christ. 


THE DOMINANCE OF LOVE PAG 


This should be the supreme aim of all the moral and 
religious instruction that is going on in the world. 
It is the great purpose for which the church exists. 
Whatever agency or instrumentality is not helping 
forward this work, is an obstacle rather than an aid 
to the world’s advancing civilization and the triumph 
of the kingdom of God. 


THE DOMINANCE oF LOVE 


[Throughout my editorial career I have sought to 
emphasize the superiority and the essential quality 
of love in the successful carrying on of our own 
reformatory work and in advancing the kingdom of 
God. I quote a paragraph from an editorial on, ‘‘A 
Plea for Love.’’] 

Of the things which abide through all the 
changes of time, of circumstances and of human 
thought, the greatest is Love. The apostle who 
championed the principle of justification by faith 
taught that the supreme thing in Christianity is love. 
Another apostle, who gives sublime emphasis in his 
writings to HOPE, puts love at the summit of the 
Christian graces. Still another apostle, whose eagle 
flights enabled him to reach the loftiest heights of 
revelation, said, ‘God is love,’ and the One who is 
greater than Paul and Peter and John, taught that 
all the law and all the prophets hang on one word, 
Love—love God-ward and man-ward. 

If Love, then, be the supreme element of Chris- 
tianity and the end, therefore, of all God’s revela- 
tions, it follows that any religious movement seek- 
ing to do God’s work in God’s way must have love 
as its dominant note and controlling principle. If 
our movement be truly Christian in spirit and aim, 
it must give the same emphasis to love, as the es- 
sential thing, which the New Testament gives to it. 


236 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


This consideration is heightened by the fact that 
ours is a Christian union movement, preéminently, 
and as such, must manifest this cohesive power of 
love within itself, and that attractive power which 
love always exerts on others, for the healing of 
division among Christians and the unification of the 
body of Christ. No matter how sound we may be in 
doctrine, nor how correct our understanding of the 
New Testament, we have utterly failed to accom- 
plish the work for which we believe we have been 
raised up without giving to love the supreme place 
which it held in the apostolic teaching. 

If it be a fact, as we fear it is, that in our zeal 
for truth, for correct doctrine, for the restoration of 
the ordinances to their original form and signif- 
icance, and in our warfare against the errors which 
prevail among religious people, we have sometimes 
forgotten the supremacy of love and subordinated 
it to intellectual clearness and correct theories, we 
have, to that extent marred the beauty and hindered 
the progress of the work to which we are committed. 
We have now reached an age in our history as a 
religious body, and a stage in our religious develop- 
ment where it is possible and exceedingly desirable 
that we should correct any error of this kind and 
allow the principle of love to have its rightful sway 
among us. It is easy to see, looking back over our 
history, how many of the questions which have 
agitated us, and which have caused more or less 
friction, might have been settled much more satis- 
factorily and much more speedily, if we had exer- 
eised more love in our interchange of thought and 
in our bearing with each other. Love is a great 
solvent of difficulties, a great lubricant with which 
to oil our ecclesiastical machinery to make it run 
smoothly, and a great unifier of those holding diverse 


AN EFFICIENT PROPAGANDA 237 


opinions and using diverse methods. Whenever it 
has been allowed the opportunity to do so it has 
manifested its supreme excellence in allaying strife, 
healing alienations among brethren, bridging chasms, 
and in promoting peace and harmony in the Church. 

These sentiments expressed in The Christian- 
Evangelist more than a score of years ago, have 
been the characteristic note of the paper through- 
out its history, and has made it a great unifying 
force of the Disciples, not only because of the views 
of its editor, but because it has been the organ of 
hke-minded men among us who have believed in 
and have been faithful to our motto: ‘‘In Faith 
Unity; in Opinions Liberty; in All Things Charity.’ 
That is the only road to unity among ourselves, and 
with the Christian peoples of the world. 


AN EFFICIENT PROPAGANDA 


In an editorial under the above heading we men- 
tioned some of the conditions that were absolutely 
essential for the successful propagation of the prin- 
ciples we were emphasizing as necessary to the ad- 
vancement of the Kingdom of God among men. In 
that article we said: 


‘‘First, and foremost, we must strengthen and in- 
crease our educational agencies, and particularly our 
Bible colleges and academic institutions. We do not 
need to argue the necessity of having a thoroughly 
educated ministry to carry forward successfully a 
great religious movement like ours in the twentieth 
century. Never was there such a demand upon the 
minister of the gospel as there is today. We cannot 
deal successfully with the problems which confront 
the Church, today, and which will continue to con- 
front it in the years to come, without a well-equipped 
and Bible-trained ministry, and without the liberal- 
izing and stimulating influence of education on a 


238 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


large per cent of our membership. It is not enough 
that ministers be educated; we need men of liberal 
education and especially men well trained in the 
Bible, in official positions in the Church, and for 
official positions in the state, and for the professional 
callings of life. To accomplish this end, so vital to 
the success of our future work, we must endow our 
Bible colleges and our other institutions of learning 
where the Bible holds a large and fundamental place, 
and give them a material equipment that will enable 
them to do this work.’’ 


We have been grievously at fault as regards our 
institutions of learning and it is time that we were 
thoroughly aroused to do something in this direction 
worthy of our cause. We can not neglect this duty 
longer without serious detriment to the reformation 
which we are pleading. We urge upon our men of 
wealth, especially, but not upon them exclusively, 
that they take this matter under the most serious 
and prayerful consideration. 

Other means of successful propagation are men- 
tioned in this article including the perfecting of our 
local and general organizations and larger circula- 
tion of our religious journals—a matter of most vital 
concern to the welfare of our churches and in the 
importance of pamphlets and books written and pub- 
lished in the style to command general circulation, 
was mentioned. The three things emphasized in the 
editorial, as essential to our progress, are the 
strengthening of our educational agencies, including 
the endowment of our college, the perfecting of our 
organized life and a far more liberal use of the press 
both in the way of our religious journals and in the 
circulation of pamphlets and books in order that, 
not only our own people, but the people at large 
may have a better conception of what we are seeking 
to do in the world. 


OTHER-WORLDLINESS 239 


We are glad to add at this writing that very much 
has been done, since the foregoing was written, along 
all these lines and that as a result we are more 
widely recognized by the religious world as one of 
the great Protestant forces working for human re- 
demption and the unification of God’s people. There 
remains, of course, much yet to be done in the per- 
fecting of our agencies for the propagation of those 
truths which we believe to be important to the wel- 
fare of Christendom. 


OTHER-W ORLDLINESS 


Away back there in the beginning of this century, 
a lady friend, an ‘‘ Easy Chair’’ reader, expressed 
her regret that the ‘‘Kasy Chair’’ of late had a 
tendency to look beyond the border into the other 
world. She says: 

‘*It creates the impression that you have in con- 
templation an early passage into the realms be- 
yond.’’ In regard to this the Easy Chair editor 
stated: 


‘We had no thought of making the Easy Chair 
so other-worldly as that, and we can assure our 
friend that we do not intend to make our exit from 
this terrestrial sphere as long as we can avoid it. 
Little as we fear death, glorious as we believe that 
life to be that lies beyond the vale, we are in no hurry 
to leave this world, where so many ties bind us, and 
where there is so much work to do. We come to 
the Easy Chair, each week, however, when the 
heavier editorial work has been done, and often 
when we are weary with the labors and burdens of 
the week, and naturally seek change and relaxation 
' of mind by entering a somewhat different field of 
thought. It would be natural, in seeking rest from 
the strain and stress of earthly cares and criticisms, 
if we should venture frequently to look across the 
mystic river into the peaceful scenes beyond. * * *”’ 


240 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


And yet, while we defend one’s right to catch 
glimpses through the rift of clouds, if he can, of the 
fair ‘‘land o’ the leal’’ and thus strengthen his heart 
for further toil and conflict, even as ‘‘Christian’’ in 
Pilgrim’s Progress caught the vision of the 
Celestial City from the top of the Delectable Moun- 
tains, we do not forget the mild rebuke of the angels 
to the disciples on Olivet: ‘‘Why stand ye gazing 
into heaven?’’ It is possible to waste time which 
might be more profitably employed, in idly gazing 
into heaven, seeking to understand the mysteries of 
the world beyond. The rebuke, however, applies 
especially to those who fix a time for Christ’s second 
coming, and who, laying aside their working clothes 
and putting on their ascension robes, stand gazing in- 
to heaven if perchance they may catch the first 
view of the glory of the coming King. Better chance 
have they to see Him first who devote their time 
and talent to getting the world ready to receive Him, 
thereby hastening His appearing. But who can 
blame those disciples of old, who had just seen their 
beloved Lord ascend into heaven, for gazing after 
Him, even long after He had passed from mortal 
view? How could they know that He would not 
descend again at once? The words of the angels 
quoted above were not so much a rebuke as an an- 
nouncement, but they become a rebuke to those who 
substitute gazing for service. We have learned one 
of the most practical and valuable lessons of life 
when we come to understand that the best possible 
preparation for the life to come, and the world be- 
yond, with all its unknown activities, is to faithfully 
and conscientiously perform the duties of the present 
life. These duties grow out of our relations with 
one another and with God. To see this clearly and 
to see also that these very duties, no matter how 


LOVE OF CHILDREN 241 


irksome they may seem to us, are designed as a 
part of our preparation for the higher destiny that 
awaits us, is to have a new conception of life. If 
half the time we spend in looking for tasks that we 
feel to be more congenial, were spent in performing 
more satisfactorily those tasks which have been set 
for us, we should get not only more profit from our 
work, but more character as well. When we thus 
come to recognize our work as a blessing and not as 
a curse, and to rejoice in it day by day, we have 
learned the true secret of success. Dr. Henry van 
Dyke has expressed this thought with his usual 
felicity of speech in the following lines: 


**Let me but do my work from day to day, 
In field or forest, at the desk or loom, 
In roaring market place, or tranquil room; 
Let me but find it in my heart to say, 
When vagrant wishes beckon me astray— 
This is my work; my blessing, not my doom; 
Of all who live, I am the one by whom 
This work can best be done in the right way. 


‘‘Then shall I see it not too great nor small, 
To suit my spirit and to prove my powers; 
Then shall I cheerful greet the laboring hour 
And cheerful turn when the long shadows fall 
At eventide to play and love and rest, 
Because I know for me my work is best.”’ 


Love or CHILDREN 
I have always cherished in my heart a great fond- 
ness for children. I find in my Easy Chair of 
more than a score of years ago a description of a de- 
lightful day that I had spent in the springtime 
taking some children into the woods to gather wild 
flowers. We spoke of the love of children for flowers 


242 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


and referred to the remark of some one that when 
sin came into the world to blight and disfigure the 
race two things were left to remind men of heaven 
and its purity—children and flowers. At the close 
of the description of that May Day’s outing I find 
this paragraph: 


‘‘While we are talking about children, will you 
permit the Easy Chair to make a plea in their be- 
half? They have tender, sensitive hearts; do not 
speak roughly and harshly to them. Do not reprove 
them before others. They have their preferences 
about what they shall eat and drink and wear. 
Respect their preferences as far as it is wise and 
prudent to do so. They have their little troubles 
and disappointments which are not to be despised. 
They are as large to them as our larger troubles 
are to us and they have not yet learned patience and 
the philosophy of suffering. It isn’t a sin for a child 
to be happy. God intended it so. Let it sing when 
its heart is set to music whether yours is or not. 
The time will come, all too soon, when the burdens of 
life will crowd out much of the music of childhood 
and youth. Little ones have their rights which 
parents and other grown-up people are bound to 
respect. They have a right to our love, to our sym- 
pathy in their troubles, to the purest, simplest in- 
struction we can give them on matters of vital im- 
portance. They have a just claim on their parents 
that they will be such as they can love, respect and 
honor. To deceive a child, to take advantage of its 
confidence in you, to mislead it, is to inflict a wound 
on its soul which time will scarcely heal. The child 
is entitled to an atmosphere of love and reverence 
and purity in the home. This is worth more to it 
then all the advice and admonition which you can 


HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 243 


give it. Oh, parents, crowd into the lives of children, 
while they are yet young, all the gentleness, all the 
happiness, all the love, which you possibly can, for 
this will form the strongest cable to hold them to 
you, and the home, and virtue, in the days when 
temptation will tend to draw them away from you. 
A young man, writing to his father said, ‘No son 
ever had a better, kinder father than you have been 
to me.’ What father would not rather have that 
testimony from his son than to have a soaring 
monument of brass or marble erected to his 
memory ?’’ 

Such has always been my feeling toward children 
and the older I get the fonder I am becoming of 
them. No wonder Jesus said, ‘‘Suffer the little chil- 
dren to come unto me and forbid them not, for of 
such is the kingdom of heaven.”’ 


How Lire Looxs From tHe Tor oF THE YEARS 


[An address delivered before the students of Calh- 
fornia Christian College, Los Angeles. ] 


The motive underlying what I shall say under 
this head is the hope that some of the lessons which 
my long life has taught me may be of benefit to 
others and especially the young. There is no class 
of people that I am quite so much interested in as 
the young men and women of our time who, in a few 
years, must bear the responsibility of leadership not 
only in the church but in the various callings of life. 
Of course, I understand that life necessarily looks 
different to different aged persons, depending 
largely on the kind of lives they have lived and 
their temperament. I can only speak from my own 
personal point of view. 

I. First of all let me say that life seems to me to 
be of infinite value. Some pessimist has raised the 


244 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


question, ‘‘Is life worth living?’’ Some one else 
has answered the question humorously, ‘‘That de- 
pends upon the lwer!/’’ There is a great deal of 
truth in that answer when the liver is understood to 
mean the personality who does the living. Yes, this 
life is tremendously worth while. What zs this 
human life,—this narrow isthmus that hes between 
the two eternities—the past and the future? First, 
It is a great opportunity for doing and becoming. 
It is a sacred trust. There is so much that needs to’ 
be done in an unfinished and incomplete world such 
as this in which we live, that none of us can afford 
to be a mere looker-on. And then the striving to do 
these things that need to be done is the best possible 
means for becoming what we ought to be and what 
most of us desire to be. Second, Life is a stage on 
which stirring dramas are being enacted—thrilling 
romances, heroic deeds, noble achievements. Not to 
have a part, however humble, in these dramas of 
life is the worst misfortune that can befall anyone. 
We read of suicides, very often now, in the daily 
press. These unfortunates have gotten tired of 
living and sought some means of self-destruction. 
In most cases, if not always, these tragedies are the 
result of aimless lives, or lives whose aims have 
been too low. My most earnest word, to all young 
people especially, is to have some definite aim in 
life—a high ideal—something worth living for, suf- 
fering for, and, if need be, dying for. That is what 
ennobles life and makes it worth living. 

II. I have often been asked the question, ‘‘ How 
does this world look to you now from the height 
of years you have reached?’’ It seems to me a 
beautiful world which Ged has made for us in which 
to live our lives and do His will. I love the deep 
blue of its skies and the glory of clouds turned to 


HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 245 


gold as the gorgeous sun, rising in the Hast, makes 
its circuit of the heavens, and seems to take its eve- 
ning bath in our great Western Sea. No wonder 
the Psalmist exclaimed, 


‘*The heavens declare the glory of God; 
And the firmament showeth His handiwork 
Day unto day uttereth speech, 
And night unto night showeth knowledge.”’ 


I love its majestic mountains that lift their lofty 
summits toward the skies and reflect the first and 
last rays of rising and setting suns. I love its vast 
oceans when in their quieter moods they mirror the 
stars, and when they are lashed into fury by the 
winds, and the waves, like white-maned horses, are 
chasing each other to the shore; yes, when the wild, 
free, pure, rollicking wind converts the domain of 
Neptune into a vast green meadow upon which the 
white-wool sheep of the deep are gamboling. I 
love the day with its radiant sunshine and the night 
with its solemnity, when all the lamps of heaven 
are lighted, and one gets a better view of the vast- 
ness and infinity of the universe of which our earth 
is but a small part. I love the spring with its early 
flowers; the summer with its warmth, its ripening 
cornfields and its golden shocks of grain; the autumn 
with its harvest of fruits, the haze on the far horizon 
and its prophecy of the coming winter with drifting 
snows and frozen streams. 

III. But the greatest thing in the world is not its 
mountains and seas, and far-stretching plains, but 
Man—man made in God’s image and therefore cap- 
able of undreamed-of possibilities. None of us has 
ever come to a perfect understanding of the depth of 
meaning in that wonderful phrase—‘‘In the image 
of God!’’ That truth opens up the way for infinite 


246 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


development. One of the greatest and the most com- 
mon sins men commit is their failure to appreciate 
the divinity that is in them, and to develop it to the 
hmit of human capacity. They live on life’s lower 
plane, engrossed wholly with material things, when 
they might do their work with the consciousness 
of God’s presence, and under the inspiration of 
eternal realities. Our colleges are wonderful helps 
in giving right direction to life. And—may I say it? 
—are valuable just in proportion as they contribute 
to that end. Many a young life receives an impulse 
and direction there which shapes its future destiny. 
This was true of my own college experience. It was 
not a large college; it had no endowment; it had no 
great scholars. But it had men of moderate educa- 
tion in the ordinary branches of college life and 
men who were willing to work on small salaries for 
the privilege of training young men and young 
women for life. They believed that Christianity was 
an essential element in any true education and they 
presented it in such a clear, convincing manner as to 
revolutionize my earlier religious thinking and to 
change the current of my life. I made one mistake, 
however, in my college life. Coming out of the 
army at the close of our Civil War, at the age of 
twenty-three, I was determined to take the four 
years’ course in three years and did so. I was 
anxious to get out into active life, and felt that the 
world could not well spare me a longer time than 
that. I am convinced now, however, that the world 
could have gotten along fairly well another year 
without me! I did my four years’ work in three 
years, eliminating much of the sport rightly in- 
dulged in by college students today, but the phys- 
ical and mental strain of those years I had to pay for 
in after years. No, my young friends, it is not wise 





J. H. Garrison at eighty-four 


45 


oy 





HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 247 


to hurry up the clock of Time. The years will pass 
all too swiftly with the best preparation you can 
make for your life-work. 

IV. The most valuable thing that my college course 
did for me, as I now look back upon it, was the 
change it wrought in my view of life. This it did, 
not only by the emphasis which the institution laid 
upon Christianity as God’s method of righting the 
wrongs of the world, but by the presentation of such 
a rational view of Christ’s religion and such a con- 
vincing method of restoring the lost unity of the 
Church, that it might accomplish its sublime mission 
in the conversion of the world, as to revolutionize 
my life-plans. I came to see that the aims and am- 
bitions with which I entered college centered largely 
on self, and looked to political honors and worldly 
positions of power. Coming out of the Civil War at 
the age of twenty-three with two commissions—one 
as Captain and another as Major—and with some 
experience as a public speaker, I felt that these 
political honors were within easy reach. But if 
Christianity is the greatest force for the lifting up 
of men and bringing in a higher order of civilization, 
—even that glorious era when God’s will shall be 
done on earth as in heaven,—and if its conquering 
power was being hindered by certain evils which it 
was the purpose of this Reformation of the Nine- 
teenth century to remedy, why should I not devote 
my life to its propagation and surrender my ambi- 
tion for political place and honor? This I decided 
to do, in spite of the personal sacrifice which I then 
felt I was making for conscientious reasons. 

I scarcely need say that I have never regretted 
that decision, but on the contrary, I thank God for 
His leading me into a nobler service, which has 
brought me, I doubt not, more joy, more real hap- 


248 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


piness, than the plans which I abandoned could pos- 
sibly have yielded, and I am sure that, with God’s 
blessing, it has resulted in more good to others. 
From all of which I gather this lesson: It 1s always 
safe to follow the path of duty, as God gives us to 
see it, regardless of what seeming sacrifices we may 
have to make to do so. The stars in their course 
are with those who prefer the Right, with adversity, 
to the wrong with any prosperity which it may 
offer. 

V. If asked how the Church looks to me at this 
period of my life, having been a member of it for 
nearly seventy years,—for I became a member of the 
Baptist Church, to which my parents and older 
brothers and sisters belonged, when I was a small 
boy,—perhaps not more than thirteen or fourteen 
years of age, I answer: the Church is a divine in- 
stitution, established by Christ to teach and preach 
and to live His gospel among all nations. Its use- 
fulness and its efficiency in fulfilling this sublime 
mission have been, and are today, sadly hindered by 
its denominationalism. One of the most pathetic 
facts of history is a divided Church, in the midst of 
a sin-cursed world, made up of men and women in 
whose hearts there is an unsatisfied and often unrec- 
ognized lack and hunger which only God, as revealed 
by Jesus Christ, can meet. The Church is Christ’s 
own agency for making this gospel known to all men. 
But is not the Church in danger of being destroyed 
by the forces of Evil? No, the gates of Hades shall 
not prevail against it. It is destined to outgrow the 
evils which now divide and weaken it, and become a 
much more mighty agent in bringing in the triumph- 
ant reign of Christ. 

The growing life of God in the hearts of Christ’s 
followers, will banish denominationalism with its 


HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 249 


party spirit, party names, and party creeds, and 
unite all His scattered children in one brotherhood, 
with no creed but Christ, no law but love, and no 
aim but to serve God and humanity. We do not 
help the Church by leaving it, but by staying in it 
and seeking to correct its faults, by living the Christ- 
life, as millions of consecrated souls have done in the 
past. No, the kingdoms of this world, and all forms 
of human government may and will pass, but the 
Church which Christ built and of which He is the 
Head, will endure forever. 


VI. If I am asked how the Bible looks to me from 
the top of the years, I must still say that it is not 
only the best book in the world, but one of supreme 
value in its relation to the most vital interests of 
human life. It deals in an authoritative way with 
the problems of God, of Man, of their relationship, 
and of human duty and destiny. The Old Testament 
is full of intimations and prophecies of a coming age 
and of a new era which in its glory and significance 
would far outstrip all former ages. This new age 
was to be introduced by the coming of One whose 
sublime mission it would be to make a fuller revela- 
tion both of God and of man, and to introduce a re- 
ligion which should be universal in its scope and 
regenerative in its influence. - | 

In the fulness of time, as the New Testament 
shows us, this great Personality appeared in human 
form, first as a little child and then, passing through 
the usual human experiences and growing, not only 
physically and mentally but in His spiritual out- 
reach, until His baptism by John the Baptist in the 
wilderness, at the age of thirty, where the Holy 
Spirit descended upon Him declaring Him to be the 
Son of God. The New Testament records, with sim- 
plicity and fidelity, His public life, His teaching, His 


250 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


miracles, and power of healing the sick and raising 
the dead, in conquering all temptations to do evil, 
in calling, commissioning and training twelve men 
who were to carry forward His work after His de- 
parture, and then His persecution, His trial, His eru- 
cifixion, His death, His resurrection from the dead, 
and His ascension to the Father. This series of 
events, recorded only in the New Testament, are 
unparalleled in their importance among all the 
events of human history. These things make the 
Bible a book of unequaled value. Modern Christian 
scholarship has done much to throw light upon the 
history, character, and right interpretation of this 
wonderful book. There have, of course, been hostile 
criticisms but those lose their power with the more 
intelligent understanding of those Holy Scriptures. 
Let no one, therefore, indulge in the idle fear that 
the Bible may be destroyed by any hostile criticisms 
or by any advance of learning. Like the Church, of 
whose founding it gives the record, it will endure 
forever. 

VII. There is one other question which my 
younger friends might wish me to answer, namely: 
‘‘How does this cause with which you identified 
yourself in your young manhood, and the body of 
people who are urging it on the world as a much- 
needed Reformation, look to you now from the top 
of the years which you have attained?’’ I believe 
the movement in behalf of Christian unity, as con- 
ceived by Thomas and Alexander Campbell—the two 
sturdy Scotch Presbyterians who inaugurated it— 
and as understood by our truly representative men 
today, is as manifestly a reformation in harmony | 
with the divine will and purpose, and as evidently 
a movement vitally connected with the welfare of the 
Church, as that of Martin Luther in the Reformation 


HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 251 


of the sixteenth century. This world is never to be 
conquered for Christ by a divided church in which 
the spirit of denominationalism dulls the vision as 
to the need of unity, and stops the ears to Christ’s 
voice pleading with the Father that all His disciples 
might be one in Hin, that the world might believe 
on Him and be saved. It was equally clear to these 
spirit-guided men that there could be no union on 
the creeds of Christendom and with all the denomi- 
national paraphernalia that went with it and was a 
part of it. Hence their search in the New Testament 
for a common name, a common creed, a common form 
of Church organization, with a common Head, obe- 
dience to whom in all common ordinances in the com- 
mon way, as constituting our common Christianity. 
We, who have accepted this high ideal for a united 
church, have not all lived up to it and some—TI regret 
to say—seem never to have comprehended its scope 
and spirit. But even those of us who have seen and 
been captivated by this vision do not claim to have 
perfectly exemplified it, but must say, in the spirit 
of Paul, to his Philippian brothers, we do not claim 
to have obtained or been made perfect, but we press 
on, if so be that we may lay hold on that for which 
also we were laid hold on by Christ Jesus. And this 
we must do, forgetting the things which are behind, 
and stretching forward to the things that are before, 
hoping sometime, in God’s way, to reach the goal 
set before us. But whether we or others are to be 
more used of our Lord in bringing about the fulfil- 
ment of His prayer for the oneness of His disciples, 
this prayer, we feel assured, uttered by the Master 
_ when the shadow of the cross had fallen upon his 
heart, is as certain to be fulfilled as that other prayer 
which He taught us all to pray: ‘‘Thy kingdom 


252 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


come; thy will be done on earth as it is done in 
heaven!”’ 


VIII. I have spoken of man as the most valuable 
thing on the earth. Now the most valuable thing 
that man can gain on earth is not wealth, not fame, 
not power, not even intellectual power. What then? 
Character, is the one thing that makes life worth 
living—the crown-jewel of all our possessions. It 1s 
the only thing we can take with us when we leave 
this world—and the.one possession that survives 
death. But character means conflict,—conflict with 
foes within and without,—especially within. Temp- 
tations to evil there have always been and will al- 
ways be. They are a part of life’s discipline. Even 
our Savior was ‘‘tempted in all points like as we are, 
but without sin.’’ Even the trials, hardships, dis- 
appointments and sorrows of life, are a part of our 
earthly discipline to develop those qualities of char- 
acter that will fit us for the highest usefulness here 
and for life in realms beyond. I am expecting the 
life beyond to be one of eternal progress in the 
knowledge of truth and of God—the sum of all truth. 


TX. All this assumes that there is life beyond 
death. Certainly it does. This hfe derives all its 
significance and value from its relation to the life 
beyond. I can no more doubt the reality of such a 
life than I can doubt the existence of God. And to 
doubt the existence of God is more than atheism; it 
is irrationality. You recall the instance of Napo- 
leon, who, on one occasion, listening to the members 
of his staff as they reasoned God out of existence, 
while he paced to and fro, walked out to them and, 
pointing to the starry heavens said: ‘‘Gentlemen, 
who made all these?’’ But not only is there a God, 
the Creator of worlds, but the God whom Jesus 


HOW LIFE LOOKS FROM THE TOP OF THE YEARS 253 


Christ has revealed to us is our Father! How would 
a good, kind heavenly Father, who has the power of 
life and death, treat the children whom He has made 
in His own image, and who has implanted in their 
hearts the eternity which expresses itself in the long- 
ing after the life immortal? Surely not by thwart- 
ing these hopes, but by fulfilling them in a manner 
far beyond our fondest dreams. And finally, Jesus 
Christ, who is not a theory but a fact in human his- 
tory, as clearly proven as that of Julius Cesar or 
Napoleon Bonaparte, has demonstrated immortality 
by the life He lived, by the death He died and by 
His resurrection—a fact as well attested as any event 
in human history. And then the conquering power 
of His religion, based on these facts, is further proof 
of Christ’s resurrection and of man’s immortality. 


How does this life look to you with the light of 
eternity shining on it? So, looking at life from the 
top of my more than fourscore years, my word is, 
live your lives in the light of that wonderful state- 
ment of Christ: ‘‘Because I live, ye shall live also.’’ 


I am sure that George Eliot has expressed what 
we all feel in our best moods when she uttered those 
immortal words :— 


‘*O, may I join the choir invisible 
Of those immortal dead who live again 
In minds made better by their presence: live 
In pulses stirred to generosity, 
In deeds of daring rectitude, in scorn 
For miserable aims that end with self, 
In thoughts sublime that pierce the night like 
stars, 
And with their mild persistence urge man’s search 
To vaster issues. So to live is heaven. 


254 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


Ti we erae HIS Sse tO.come, 


Which martyred men have made more glorious 
For us who strive to follow. May I reach 
That purest heaven, be to other souls, 

The cup of strength in some great agony, 
Enkindle generous ardor, feed pure love, 
Beget the smiles that have no cruelty— 

Be the sweet presence of a good diffused 

And in diffusion ever more intense. 

So shall I join the choir invisible 

Whose music is the gladness of the world.’’ 


ADDENDUM 


Worps oF F'RIENDS* 
A LETTER 


Dear Brother Garrison: 


Your innate and ineradicable modesty is being 
permitted to deprive those who come after you, of a 
fair and full statement of the great service you have 
rendered,—and are rendering—to the Restoration 
Movement. This autobiography in my humble judg- 
ment, should be much fuller. If another were writ- 
ing your life, he would state the work which you 
faced at the beginning, what other persons and 
forces were engaged, the religious situation, condi- 
tions both within and without the brotherhood, and 
then having analyzed the facts he would proceed, 
and detail your part in working things out to a right 
conclusion, showing how you grew with the work, 
etc. If I mistake not, there was more than one crisis 
in the brotherhood of the Disciples, when without the 
contribution you were making, the movement would 
have degenerated into a narrow, bigoted, legalistic 
leaven. 

You will remember that when I was studying law 
in Harrisonville, Missouri, in the office of my second 
cousin, who had moved there from Ohio after the 
war of the 60’s, I was a Methodist; that some Dis- 
ciple friends loaned me copies of The Christian- 
Evangelist, and finally, when I asked for further 
information, the pastor handed me your pamphlet, 





*While giving a little mechanical assistance in preparing this man- 
uscript for the printer, I am taking the liberty of adding to it, as 
the author would perhaps not have done, the following brief interpre- 
tative and appreciative estimates of his work by a few of his friends 
who have had full knowledge of it.—-W. E. Garrison. 


255 


256 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


—‘QOur Movement, Its Origin and Aim,’’ together 
with Isaac Errett’s ‘‘Our Position.’’ The point of 
this observation is—that I was then in the side-lines, 
a mere observer, and an investigator; that the paper 
appealed to me, by reason of its catholicity, and its 
flavor of Christian statesmanship. I compared it 
favorably in my mind with The Christian Union, 
afterwards The Outlook, Lyman Abbott’s paper. 
Now there is emphasis on the first paragraph above, 
in this fact: That wt came to me with surprise 
amounting to astonishment, that the Disciples be- 
lieved in Christian union, to say nothing of the fact 
that they were the protagonists of it. I had heard 
their preachers, and met their people; had conversed 
with some of the ministers, who were at least fairly 
representative; and I had set them down as narrow, 
legalistic, unspiritual, and exceedingly controversial, 
—a good people to let alone. This is what some of 
them, no doubt were, and what more of them might 
have become—shall I say inevitably would have be- 
come?—except for the Herculean labors of yourself 
through the Christian Publishing Company. 


Cordially and sincerely yours, 
Frank G. Tyrrell. 


JAMES HARVEY GARRISON 
By W. R. WARREN 


‘‘T was shot into it,’’ was the startling answer 
once given by the man whom we delight to honor, 
when asked how he came into the current reforma- 
tion. The allusion was to a serious wound that 
started a train of circumstances leading from the 
Pea Ridge battlefield to Abingdon College. There 
it was inevitable that an open-minded Baptist should 
respond to the plea presented by President J. W. 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 257 


Butler and such occasional preachers as Isaac Errett, 
Benjamin Franklin and John 8. Sweeney. Equally 
it is manifest, that in such an environment a young 
man who had been consecrated to the ministry by 
his mother, and whose ruling ideas were already de- 
votion to God and love of man, should lay aside 
worldly ambition and become a preacher and a 
teacher of the religion of Christ. 

The main question being decided, it was natural 
that J. C. Reynolds, who was publishing the Gospel 
Echo at Macomb, and was intimately associated with 
the college, should call the young preacher to share 
his labors as pastor and editor. Thence the man 
and the paper grew with the cause to which they 
were committed. 

There are several good brands of humanity to be 
seen in this era, but you will scarcely do better than 
to begin in the North of Ireland, remove to North 
Carolina in time to be in on the right side of the 
Revolutionary War, migrate thence to East Tennes- 
see, and then, when overcrowded, trek to Southwest- 
ern Missouri, the land of clear springs, pure alr, 
Elberta peaches and tall men. No state was more 
rent asunder by the Civil War than Missouri. She 
was not the least in the Confederacy, yet she gave 
more men to the Union army. So when the shot at 
Sumter set off the explosives throughout the coun- 
try, highly inflamed and heavily armed factions 
gathered in Ozark, Missouri, half of them to raise the 
Confederate flag over the new courthouse, half to 
‘see about it.’’ 

It doesn’t look strange now that it was a high 
school boy who prevented the firing on that flag, and 
caused instead the Stars and Stripes to be lifted on 
a pole near by. When thrust forward by discerning 
elders, he made the speech which sent everybody 


258 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


home in peace. Equally pacific and effective was the 
Fourth of July address which he delivered by ap- 
pointment of his general to the soldiers of both 
armies after he had finished the war with the rank 
of Captain. 

These forty-three years he has been the seer, the 
peacemaker and the soldier of righteousness. Omit 
any one of those three distinctions, and you cannot 
understand the man; omit any one of these there 
functions and the Restoration Movement would have 
gone lame. 

He saw the glorious beauty and invincible power 
of the Restoration plea at its first presentation. The 
primary importance of the gospel ministry won his 
allegiance before his college days were done. The 
coming inevitable influence of the newspaper as a 
force for Christianity laid hold of him, so that fire 
and famine could never break the spell. 

Modestly, as a young man, he helped in the launch- 
ing of the Christian Woman’s Board of Missions and 
the Foreign Christian Missionary Society. With 
increasing confidence he has championed in succes- 
sion, each from the day of its projection: Church 
Extension, Ministerial Relief, the National Benevo- 
lent Association, the Brotherhood and the Christian 
Board of Publication. He was the prime mover of 
Children’s Day for Foreign Missions, which now 
yields $100,000 per year, in addition to its educa- 
tional value, and of the Centennial celebration with 
its mighty impetus to the cause. He was among the 
first to see the possibilities of the Bible school and 
made the Christian Publishing Company a pioneer 
in Sunday school publications. Christian Endeavor 
found him an immediate friend and champion, as did 
church federation, the Laymen’s Missionary Move- 
ment and the Men and Religion Forward Movement. 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 259 


His hospitality toward these new movements and 
his friendliness with Christians of all varieties have 
brought him much misunderstanding and criticism 
from his brethren. Yet while he was sojourning a 
year in Southport, England, the Evangelical Alliance 
refused him admission, because the plea for an un- 
conditional return to Christ, which he was preach- 
ing with convincing power, was destructive of all 
denominations as such. Again and again his own 
brethren who have departed from the faith that is | 
in Christ, or the conduct that adorns its confession, 
have been amazed at the strictness of the reckoning 
which he required in his Master’s name. 

It is a great thing to be peaceable, but the higher 
reward is for the peacemaker. The human pendu- 
lum swings, in constant succession, from one extreme 
to the other. 

The Restoration movement was a supreme effort 
at peace-making. Campbell and Stone declined to 
be called either liberal or conservative, either trin- 
itarian or unitarian. They were simply Christians, 
but they were aggressively Christian. So, like the 
Prince of Peace, himself, they sometimes set brother 
at variance with brother. 

But the genius of the plea committed them to a 
wholesome middle course, contending for nothing 
but the gospel itself. This involves constant dis- 
crimination between essentials of the faith and mat- 
ters of opinion and expediency. It also requires ex- 
traordinary grace to demand not allegiance but 
merely liberty for one’s favorite opinions; and cour- 
age to insist that all men’s reasonable opinions and 
feasible plans shall have liberty, where the Word of 
God has not bound us. In forty-three years on the 
tripod J. H. Garrison may have made mistakes on 
indifferent questions, but I cannot find that he has 


260 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


ever jumbled faith and opinion. He has never 
fought for opinion nor failed to stand fast for the 
faith. His caution in passing judgment in particular 
cases and his marvelous charity are gloriously vin- 
dicated in this spotless record. 

As the Restoration Movement found the denomina- 
tions ready to make common cause against it, so 
within itself any man who has sought to prevent 
division has had much trouble for his pains. 

The unfailing optimism of our veteran is justified 
variously and abundantly. The Disciples of Christ 
steadfastly refuse to either divide or depart. Next 
to the Bible, Alone with God, is their most read book. 
And the most significant thing in its beloved author’s 
life is the fact that ninety-nine hundredths of his 
voluminous writings have been devoted to the great, 
permanent, educational processes of our religion, be- 
ginning, continuing and ending always with the up- 
lifting of Christ, the only Son of the only God. 


A BIRTHDAY LETTER TO J. H. GARRISON 


My dear Dr. Garrison: 

In a note just received from you, tantalizing me 
with references to the balmy weather and the flower 
festivals of California, while Chicago is passing 
through some of the severest cold experienced in 
years, you mention the fact that on February second 
you will be seventy-six years old. That reference 
has prompted me to send you a message of greeting 
and congratulation, in which I am confident all The 
Christian Century family will wish to join. And if 
my own acquaintance with you through many years 
leads me further afield than some members of this 
large ‘‘family’’ might be able to go on the ground of 
association and friendship, I feel confident that your 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 261 


place in the affection of all Disciples will justify this 
open message to you. 

You have reached the period when men are no 
longer sensitive to the record of the calendar. In 
childhood we all like to boast of advancing age, and 
usually claim that we are ‘‘going on’’ at least one 
year more than we have actually reached. In middle 
life we grow conscious of the manner in which time 
hurries us along, and are hesitant in laying claim to 
all the years we have rightfully acquired. But in 
maturer life early pride comes back to a degree, and 
beyond seventy there is a sort of quiet sympathy for 
the unfortunate mortals who have only lived a half 
century! 

For this reason I do not hesitate to tell you that 
as far back as I can remember you were already 
something of a tradition in my home. You were still 
a young man then, but your place was assured in the 
confidence and regard of our people. Not that in 
those days you were the leader you afterward came 
to be. At that time Isaac Errett was still our most 
outstanding figure. He had taken up the work laid 
down a few years before by Alexander Campbell, 
and his word was spoken with grace and power. My 
father and mother read the Christian Standard with 
devotion, and in the attic of our home were all the 
files of that journal from the first number. [ remem- 
ber the shock of surprise and almost of indignation 
with which I heard my father say on one of my visits 
home from college that you were the coming leader 
among the Disciples, and would take Mr. Errett’s 
place, even as he had followed Mr. Campbell in the 
great succession. I could not believe anyone could 
take that place in those days. But his words have 
been abundantly confirmed. 


262 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


I wish I could remember when I first saw you. Of 
course, in order to give this word of appreciation its 
full dramatic value I ought to be able to tell you just 
when that first time came. But I cannot seem to re- 
eall. In fact, as I say, you seemed so much of a 
tradition that I just took you for granted, and 
through the columns of The Christran-Evangelist 
caught something of your point of view and the large 
courage and optimism of your spirit. It was not 
until years later that I learned through what strug- 
gles you had passed in the establishment of that 
journal, which has meant so much to our people. In 
the meantime I saw and heard you in our conven- 
tions, and came to feel that you were one of the es- 
sential personalities in all gatherings where the 
Disciples met for important utterances. I remem- 
ber the unconscious humor of a question once asked 
you by some brother who wanted to know whether 
you expected to be at the next national convention: 
T could hardly have imagined one of our conventions 
without your presence and message. 

I think my first real sense of indebtedness to you 
came from your frequent comments on great books. 
In spite of all the studies I tried to carry on, and the 
necessary acquaintance with literature, general and — 
special, which they involved, you made me read 
many volumes which otherwise I might have missed. 
You had a way of referring to them again and again, 
until one felt that he must read those great books 
for himself. I think now of two such works, whose 
place in my library, in my careful reading and in the 
organization of my thinking I owed to you. They 
were Fairbairn’s The Place of Christ in Modern 
Theology, and Sabatier’s Religions of Authority and 
the Religion of the Spirit. These were but two of a 
great number of notable works which you inter- 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 263 


preted to a host of our preachers, and thereby com- 
pelled them to reckon with world views of truth 
which made merely denominational and provincial 
types of thinking and preaching impossible for them. 

During those years you were likewise active in 
promoting the work of the Missouri Christian Lece- 
tureship, of which I often heard. I never attended 
one of its sessions, but I used to learn of its discus- 
sions with a feeling that the frank consideration of 
some of the themes which were included in its pro- 
grams must be something of a liberal education to 
those who attended. The debt of gratitude which 
your state and the Disciples at large owed to Alex- 
ander Procter, George W. Longan, T. P. Haley and 
yourself was incalculable. Such leadership made it 
impossible that the more alert spirits in our fellow- 
ship should ever be satisfied with less than the best 
that the universal church had to offer us. Likewise 
in turn it made them covet the privilege of making 
some adequate return to the wider circle of believers 
in the majestic message which historically had been 
committed to our hands. 

You have also had a distinguished part in the lit- 
erary output of the Disciples. The long list of titles 
which stands to your credit in the record of volumes 
issued by our people, a list to which you are still add- 
ing, the invaluable numbers of the Christian Quar- 
terly, whose burden and honor you and Dr. W. T. 
Moore successfully carried, and your contributions 
to interdenominational journalism, have gone much 
further than you or any of us can estimate to mold 
the thinking of the Disciples in terms of enlighten- 
ment, modernity, moderation and good will. . Your 
open-minded acceptance of the great scientific con- 
elusions which revolutionized the textbooks on nat- 
ural science in the last quarter of the nineteenth 


264 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


century gave confidence to great numbers of our 
people who otherwise would have been disquieted 
by the acrimonious controversies over evolution. 
The same poise of spirit marked your attitude to- 
ward the critical studies in the Bible, which have 
laid the foundation of a new Christian scholarship 
and a more confident faith. Your utterances have 
never been radical on these themes. Sometimes 
they have been markedly conservative and hesitant. 
But they have at all times disclosed a spirit hospit- 
able to all truth, from whatever source, and a serene 
confidence that our holy faith has nothing to fear 
but much to gain from the most exacting researches 
in these and all related fields. In this regard your 
example has been inspiring and contagious. 

But beyond all these features of your long and 
significant ministry to the Disciples has been your 
leader-like advocacy of modern and wonderful move- 
ments in our brotherhood. The Congress of the Dis- 
ciples was projected in a group invited by you to a 
day’s outing at Macatawa, Michigan. The partici- 
pation of the Disciples in the work of Church Fed- 
eration, a form of Christian co-operation which from 
the first ought to have appealed to us, was carried, 
largely by your influence and championing, to a rec- 
ognized place on our list of activities. And this in 
spite of determined opposition which placed the en- 
tire message of the Disciples in behalf of Christian 
union in a strangely embarrassing and compromised 
position in the regard of our Christian neighbors. 
More recently your insistent plea in favor of a Gen- 
eral Convention which should voice the sentiments 
of the brotherhood as a whole, and not merely a 
succession of our missionary and benevolent soci- 
eties, has won its way to acceptance and inaugura- 
tion. These are only instances of that type of leader- 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 265 


ship which has fallen to you in the later history of 
our people, and which you have so gallantly carried 
through the long span of your public life. 

Of course much of this service would have been 
impossible to you without the medium of The Chris- 
tian-Evangelist, which you created and brought to 
outstanding power not only among the Disciples, 
but in the field of religious journalism. Week by 
week we waited for your interpretation of current 
questions, your counsel in present problems, and 
your constructive outlines of the duties and perils 
of our great adventure in behalf of a united Chris- 
tendom. To be sure, you had many helpers in the 
task. But essentially it was your message that went 
out week by week. Preachers felt a little surer of 
their words on the Sunday after they had read the 
Evangelist. And in a multitude of homes your utter- 
ances were followed with deep interest and satis- 
faction. 


It is a comfort to all of us that something of this 
weekly output of your life is still available. We 
have always enjoyed and profited by ‘‘The Easy 
Chair’’ and the ‘‘Musings.’’ But it igs useless to 
deny the fact that your relinquishment of the direct- 
ing function left a vacancy which has not been filled. 
No one as yet has learned to bend the bow of 
Ulysses. If it was your wish to find release from 
the arduous tasks of the editorial office, it was still 
a misfortune for the Disciples. If it was made 
necessary by business readjustments, it will remain 
an unexplained and doubtful expedient. The most 
gifted and consecrated services of others is no 
adequate substitute for the voice and control of a 
great leader. To this degree the journal and 
brotherhood have suffered. 


266 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


But after all, the most impressive feature of your 
contribution to the Disciples of Christ has been 
yourself. Only those who have known you in some- 
thing of the intimacy of home life and the freedom 
of open spaces have really appreciated you. I re- 
call with the deepest satisfaction the years when 
you and your family were accustomed to summer 
at Macatawa Park, and there was always a choice 
company, whose sports and fireside talks were a joy 
and a remembrance. And in later years, at Pent- 
water, that satisfaction was even greater. For in 
such surroundings we came to know you better still. 
On fishing excursions, or walks through the woods, 
and on visits in your home, it was a satisfaction 
beyond words to feel the comradeship in which it 
was your gift to make all of us share. But most 
of all do I think of the religious side of our life 
there. We were always sure to see you in the little 
church on the Lord’s Day. And your words at the 
communion service, or your message in the sermon, 
gave us a deeper glimpse into that region of per- 
sonality where the Lord has had his way with you 
through all the years. 


Never have the lives of a husband and wife been 
finer examples of the Christian ideal than yours and 
Mrs. Garrison’s. Through many joys and some 
deep sorrows you have walked together in the 
beauty of holiness. Our happiness in this world is 
shaded. The perfect smile is God’s alone. But you 
together have uplifted to our sight the white flowers 
of stainless and happy lives, and have made us rich 
in the possession of your friendship. No one of 
us who has enjoyed the privilege of those sunset 
beach services at Pentwater, looking out over the 
unruffled lake when the light was going down in the 


r- 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 267 


west, can forget the hush and mystery of the hour, 
or the solemn and_prophet-like messages you 
brought to us. If the eternal world, where again 
we may look upon the ‘‘sea of glass mingled with 
fire,’’ can hold any greater happiness or more in- 
spiring visions, it will be because our capacities are 
enlarged by the great experience. For surely in 
those twilight gatherings we had some foregleams 
of the light that never was on sea or land, and some 
anticipation of our eternal fellowship in the blame- 
less family of God. 


Brother Garrison, there are many of us who, if 
we should live to that time, will be saying some 
such things as these about you, when you, many 
long years hence as we hope, shall have entered in- 
to the life that is life indeed. I hope it may not be 
out of place to say some of them to you now, when 
we still have the occasional satisfaction of your 
presence. For many of us your removal to the sun- 
set slope of our land is a real deprivation. We 
can only see you at rare intervals. But we read 
your messages still, and we know that you are yet 
with us in the effort to realize that high purpose 
to which our movement is devoted. And we draw 
encouragement from the hope that the great war 
has brought changes that will set onward by wide 
diameters the boundaries of the republic of God. 


_ With loving remembrances to you and Mrs. Garri- 
son, and the hope that you may live to enjoy many 
- more anniversaries in the circle of those who love 
and honor you, 


IT am, most sincerely yours, 
Herbert L. Willett. 


268 MEMORIES AND EXPERIENCES 


sf 


“RULING ELDER’” AND TRUSTED COUNSELOR 


Dear Dr. Garrison: 


Some of your friends in Union Avenue, hearing 
that you were writing an autobiography, mentioned 
the matter in the Board of Officers’ meeting. All 
thought that, as you had for so many years a most 
intimate place in this church, a word of appreciation 
representing the membership here might not be out 
of place in your forthcoming volume. They sug- 
gested I write you; and I assure you I need no 
urging to write a sincere word of appreciation. 


Allow me to say how gratified I am to learn that 
you are writing the story of your life. Your biog- 
raphy will in a large sense be a tracing of the im- 
portant movements in our communion for the past 
two generations, and will touch as well those of the 
whole church. 


During this long period there has been no prog- 
ress among the Disciples in which you did not have 
a large part as leader. 


It is, however, of your more tender and intimate 
association with the local church that I would write. 
You were the respected leader, ‘‘the ruling elder,’’ 
the trusted counselor, the dear friend of this church 
for so many years. It is still the embodiment of 
your spirit. You made of it a family with the 
friendly fireside atmosphere. You gathered about 
you a body of men who have through the years built 
with great fidelity, with fairness of mind, breadth 
of spirit, warmness of heart. Your home, through 
you and Mrs. Garrison, radiated the spirit of good- 
will which seemed to permeate all the membership. 
Their conviction, like yours always considerate, was 
nevertheless daring. It launched a great building 


WORDS OF FRIENDS 269 


enterprise and because of unfaltering fidelity 
brought it to successful achievement. On the last 
visit of Mrs. Garrison and yourself to St. Louis, 
the spontaneous outpouring of our hearts was such 


a testimony as I have never seen extended to any 
other. 


I never cease to marvel at a personality touched 
with the beauty and power of Christ. 


Two thousand Union Avenue people, if by my 
side, would join me in heartiest greetings. 


Yours sincerely, 


George A. Campbell. 





va i 


a A net, i 








